I'm dating who?
by Suna No Ken
Summary: After a heart shattering team practice, young Naruto finds himself in the middle of what is most adolescent young mens greatest fantasy. Ofcourse hes too oblivious to notice tho. Not a Harem, just lots of possible pairings. And confusion, plenty of that.
1. The Meeting

**Okay so I started a new story. I'm still going to do Shadows and I'm a bit iffy on Flowers, but I dont think I'll abandon it just yet. I've had this idea flowing around in my head for a long time and have written several chapters for it in my notebooks so I decided to finally sit down and type it up. I'd like to thank two people though, whom without their stories this one would have never come into fruition. SargentAngua for the story imperfect timing that got me into NaruTen stories, and JPMod for making me love them. If you dont like the story blame them for inspiring me. So without further ado I present my story. Oh, and BTW, there is no bashing in this story. It may seem like it at first, but trust me when I say that there is no bashing of the characters. Everyone is doing what they're doing for specific resons. All will be explained. Later.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, his catchphrases, his clothes, his world, or anything. I wish I did, but only because if I did then maybe I could find a way to own his powers too. Then the world would pay. Er...ignore that last part.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: The Meeting<strong>

Sakura Haruno sat under the shady tree she liked so much at team sevens training ground. She was resting after a hard day of training and was waiting for her teammates to finish, or rather, she was waiting for Sasuke to finish. Kakashi had officially dismissed him after receiving word that the Hokage needed him for a private mission, but Naruto and Sasuke had decided to use this time to have a no holds barred spar. So she was just waiting for Sasuke to finish beating Naruto in the hopes that he might decide to ask if he could walk her home. Sure Sasuke said no the last sixty eight times but she had _very _high hopes for attempt number…well you know. Besides it's not like it was her fault Sasuke turned her down, no, it was Naruto's. At the mere thought of her annoying teammate Sakura ground her teeth and her temper shortened. That idiot was always getting in her way when it came to her Sasuke-kun, why couldn't he just leave the two of them alone? She was sure that if Naruto we out of the way then making the Uchiha fall in love with her would be easy.

"Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Sakura heard Sasuke yell. He must be getting serious if he was starting to use Jutsu on Naruto. 'Oh well, Sasuke will win no matter what Naruto does.'

"Sakura look out!" She heard Naruto yell, making her snap her eyes open. One of Sasuke's fireballs was heading right for her, moving insanely fast. Sakura struggled to get her body to move, but nothing was working as she was paralyzed with the sudden fear of being burned alive. The fireball was about to hit her when Naruto appeared in front of her, his arms outstretched to ensure that he was an effective shield. The fireball collided with him and he was blown back through the air past Sakura and her tree, and was about to hit the ground when Sasuke appeared and kneed Naruto in the back thus suspending him momentarily in the air just long enough for Sasuke to spin on his heel and slam his foot into Naruto's stomach, crushing him into the ground. Naruto gasped for air as Sasuke doubled over in exhaustion.

"I win." Sasuke muttered to Naruto as he tried to even out his breathing.

Naruto's eyes shot open at Sasuke's words as he started to piece everything together. "Wasn't an accident … you aimed for her. What if …I hadn't reached … in time?"

Sasuke glowered and straightened up. "Don't really care." He said then looked over towards Sakura who was running towards them. "Hn." He grunted before he turned and started to walk away.

"Teme." Naruto groaned, in pain and anger. Sakura finally slowed to a stop near Naruto's burned body, looking between him and the retreating boy who had her heart, torn as to what to do. Naruto had saved her from that fireball, he had protected her and was badly hurt because of it, but she had waited all this time for Sasuke to walk her home, and while it was wrong, since Naruto couldn't move he couldn't possibly ruin this chance for her.

Sakura scrunched up her eyes and turned towards Naruto. She may not like him that much but she was still grateful. After all, if that fire had hi her she might have been scarred and burned to a point where she would look hideous. She knelt down next to him to Naruto's surprise, and as he turned his head to face her she cringed a bit. It was worse than she thought.

"You're pretty hurt Naruto, don't move. It's really bad, but I have some ointment and stuff that I think can help. I just…maybe I should run to the hospital…"

"Sakura." The two heard. Sakura turned around and saw Sasuke waiting by the tree line. "Hey, I'll walk you home if you want." He said.

Sakura seemed to shut down for a moment as she processed those words. However once she checked and double checked to make sure she wasn't dreaming she felt a small twinge of anger at her beloved Uchiha. _How _could he _possibly _ask that when he can see that she was busy trying to help Naruto. Naruto who the Uchiha burned near to a crisp. She turned back to Naruto and grimaced a small bit once again at how much worse he seemed to be getting. His skin was blackening and his face…Kami it was bad. 'I cant fix this. There's no way I can' She thought before she reached her decision. If she couldn't, she'd just have to bring someone who could.

As she got up though, both Naruto and Sasuke had the same thought. That Sakura was choosing Sasuke over Naruto. It was heart breaking for the young blond to see the pink haired girl break out into a run in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke smirked and shot Naruto a look that the blond somehow unknowingly understood. 'I'm going to take everything from you Naruto. Everything.' Sasuke then turned and moved so that he could keep pace with Sakura, thus making Naruto miss the last message in his eyes. 'Only then will you become stronger.'

And so Naruto found himself alone in his training grounds, burned, bruised, and hurting too much to move. He could only stare at the space where the two people that had meant the most to him had been moments before they left him. It was then that he realized he was doing something that he had sworn to himself to never do again. Naruto was crying at his loneliness.

* * *

><p>Tenten was close. She knew it was going to happen today. Everything was leading up to it. Neji was going to be hers today and the universe was helping any way that it could. First she and Neji had visited Lee in the hospital to congratulate him on the success of the surgery. She had even gotten to meet her idol Tsunade and her sensei Gai had been in the room to give everyone the day off. Neji, who hadn't eaten yet, had then heard Tenten's stomach growl. Being the gentleman that he was (by which I mean state the obvious to everyone in the room then say that it wasn't good to skip meals) Neji offered to treat Tenten to brunch. She jumped at the opportunity to be with the Hyuga and promptly led him out of the hospital to her favorite bakery. After a nice brunch with (Neji being silent as Tenten never stopped talking) Tenten recommended they go buy a gift for Lee. Neji grudgingly accepted and the next three hours were spent with the two shopping more for Tenten than they were for Lee. Finally Neji decided to walk Tenten home saying that he was tired (of her voice) and wanted to relax at home. Tenten pouted a bit but decided that at least the Hyuga was paying attention to her. So here they were walking side by side and Tenten was almost ready to confess her feelings to the boy when she heard someone shout their names. She turned to see that pink haired girl that Lee was always talking about and that cute Uchiha boy Sasuke. They seemed to be going somewhere with a purpose in mind, or at least pinky did, but they slowed down as they reached them.<p>

"Hi Tenten, Neji," she said, making Tenten feel a bit guilty that she forgot the girls name, "are either of you two busy? You see, we have a team at training ground 7 who is in pretty bad shape and"

"Why aren't you helping him then?" Tenten said cutting the girl off.

Pinky seemed caught off guard for a moment before stammering her reply. "Well, I was going to help him, but you see, um, Sasuke here-"

"Oh! I get it now!" Tenten cut her off again, her anger very apparent to the other three. "You left your own teammate just so you could walk home with this-this-snobby Uchiha! You know it's fan girls like you that give real Kunoichi like me a bad name. Where's you're sense of decency, respect? Bah!" Before Sakura could even defend herself from the false allegations Tenten was off towards training ground seven to help the kid. Sakura could only stare off after her, hurt and insulted at her words, Sasuke and Neji doing the same, only feeling a bit impressed at Tenten's actions.

Tenten however was grumbling a bit at the fact she lost her chance to confess to Neji. Still, comrades come before love, so she didn't feel too bad about it.

* * *

><p>Naruto had finally stopped crying through sheer effort alone. He knew that his cuts were already healing, and that his bones had set back into their proper places, but…the burns. It was too much for him. He couldn't move because of the pain, and when he tried, his blackening skin would break and bleed. He was just so tired of even trying to get up though, not because of the burns, but because he was nearing the end of his rope. 'It's always like this.' He thought. 'Sasuke beats me again and Sakura just follows him around him because she loves him. Neither of them really care about me. I thought Sakura was coming around, I thought she was finally beginning to like me, but she left for the teme like always.' Another tear left Naruto's eyes and he had to struggle to not break down again.<p>

At that moment Naruto heard a rustling in the grass as something ran towards him. At first he thought it was an animal, but then he recognized the sound as human footsteps so maybe he was out of luck and a hateful villager wanted to kick him while he was down. He was sure the villager would leave and bring back friends too, so it was just going to be more pain. But then he heard a gasp and someone fall to their knee's next to him. Naruto opened his eyes and saw a cute girl around his age with two buns on her head looking over him with her hand hovering over his body.

"Kami…I never imagined it was this bad. How could they leave you like this?" He heard her say. She lifted his hand and started muttering to herself again. "These look like third degree burns…he's going to be scarred for life. Oh Kami!" She cried out as he saw her finally look at his face. Her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth, reaching out with her other hand to nearly touch him. Naruto began to get worried and tried to speak but Tenten shook her head and began to make a few hand signs.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." She said as her hands began to glow a faint green and she moved them towards his face. "I cant fix everything, the burns ate away towards you're muscles. I don't have the proper techniques or enough chakra to fix them all the way. So I'm going to heal them to where there's skin so that I can at least put salves and medicine on them. It's going to hurt, so much. I'm so sorry."

She finally put her hands on Naruto's face and the boy felt like screaming if he could find his voice. After three minutes of pain Tenten panted in exhaustion and cut off the technique. Slowly she brought her head up to face Naruto and he could see a tiny smile on her face as she reached out and touched him again, this time on the smooth skin of his whiskered cheek. Naruto almost cried then and there, but he swallowed it down and croaked out a thank you to the girl.

Her eyes turned sad and she slowly shook her head before grabbing and eating a chakra food pill. "Don't thank me yet. I spent a lot more chakra on you're face than I should've. That means doing the rest of them is going to go even more slowly." She trembled in place for a moment before looking at him again. "Are you ready?" He nodded at the question and Tenten went to work starting with his right hand.

The two of them didn't keep track of how long they were like that, all they knew is that when they started there was light out, and now it was dark, the moon rising up filling the training ground with light. When Tenten cut off the technique for the last time, Naruto was gasping in pain, tears washing down his face. Tenten shuffled towards him a bit and stroked his hair, trying to calm him down and show him that the worst of it was over. It only took a few minutes, and by the time it did, Naruto was ready for the next part.

Tenten pulled out a scroll and unsealed several pieces of medical equipment. She chose a large tub of burn ointment and uncapped it before pushing away Naruto's jacket. She had to break the zipper to get it off of him when she was healing him, but had put it back on him since it was the only article of intact clothing he had left, his black shirt was now in pieces courtesy of her kunai.

"This burn salve is the most potent one I have. It will hurt and give you a cold burn for a while, but trust me when I say that this will help. Once I'm done applying it and the bandages, it should be safe to move you around so that we can get you to the hospital. They should be able to do more for you there." She said before she scooped her hand in the salve.

Naruto could only think of how the hospital would most likely just leave him be thinking that he had enough medical treatment to stay alive. Still it felt extremely good that someone was taking their time to help him in such a way. He cringed as the salve hit his raw skin, but didn't do anything until he caught a strange scent. He lifted his head to see the ointment smoking on his chest for a moment, causing him to panic until he felt Tenten's firm grip on his injured shoulder.

"Don't move. I know it looks bad but this will help. I promise."

She continued to put the ointment on his body for the next ten minutes, before she unfurled a large roll of bandages. She began to bandage his now ointment coated legs, pausing embarrassedly when she reached his thigh before doing the same for his other leg and both arms. Finally she reached back to his chest and helped him sit up with an awkward 'kind-of-hug'. She began to wrap him up, stomach first, all the while assuring him that things were going to go fine, despite the obvious worry in her eyes. That was when he finally recognized her.

"You…you're that girl who was worried about bushy brows…Tenten."

Tenten's head shot up and she really looked at Naruto for the first time before her eyes widened. "You're that guy that beat Neji, Naruto. Wow, what happened to you? How'd someone like you…you know."

Naruto's face fell as he answered. "I was training with Sasuke-teme." He said coldly.

"The Uchiha did this to you?"

"Yeah, we were sparring and I was beginning to get some hits in on him. I was about to finish it when he cast a fireball jutsu. He aimed for Sakura on purpose knowing that I would go and protect her and he attacked me right after I got hit by the fireball. Then Sakura was about to help me when she ran off towards her precious Sasuke-kun." He spat.

Tenten glared in anger at the thought of the pink haired girl and the Uchiha. How could anyone justify such action! That girl should get her ass handed to her, and she'd gladly do it if need be.

"It's always like this," Naruto said, his voice taking on his somber mood. "It's…I try you know? I try to get Sasuke to recognize me as a rival, and I try to get Sakura to see me…at least as a friend. I-ow!"

"Stop with the pity party!" Tenten shouted, patting Naruto's bandaged back. She shifted until she was sitting right across from Naruto and stared into his eyes.

"I don't really know you that well Naruto but I have a small idea as to who you are. You always put everything you have into anything that you do. You defend you're friends and stand up for those who are to afraid to. And even those who couldn't care less about you, well, you fight for them. You're a good guy Naruto, and I know you'll go far." She smiled at him and his eyes lit up as she patted his head.

"But anyways -hey listen- anyway the point I'm trying to make is that people like the Uchiha and Pinky really aren't worth you're time. You can do a lot better than them. Trust me when I tell you that…that people like them will only hurt you."

For a moment as she said that her face lost a lot of that confidence it had and her voice became low and hurt. Most people wouldn't have noticed it as well as Naruto had, but he had always been good at reading when people were sad and lonely.

"Tenten." He said softly. "Who hurt you?"

Tenten stiffened then closed her eyes and sighed. She looked at Naruto and searched his eyes. "When I was a year and a half old my parents fought against the Kyubi. They died. I was sent to the survivors orphanage and grew up there. For some reason, no one wanted to adopt children around my age, but I always hoped and prayed that someday I'd get parents. That hoped turned into a desperate longing and that turned into a need for just some sort of acceptance. That led to me making the wrong kinds of friends." She closed her eyes and looked to the ground, hiding her now watering eyes.

"It was just the three of us. This girl named Rukia that treated me like a little sister, and my crush Yusuke. People always tried to pick on me, but those two always would protect me from the bully's. I thought that I meant something to them. They were just using me. Since I was a small kid I could squeeze through the vents and move anywhere in the orphanage, getting everything from extra snacks, to the keys for the ball closet. I hated the dark and compact spaces, but they would tease me then leave me alone until I went and did whatever they asked. One day I got stuck and cried out for someone to help me. The two of them didn't do anything and I was trapped in the vent for close to two hours until one of the orphanage workers heard me and got me out. I got into a lot of trouble for crawling in the vents and I was so scared that I just spilled everything I had done getting the other two in trouble instead of me. The next time I tried to talk to them, they beat me for being useless and getting them in trouble. They finally spat on me and told me to never speak to them again. I never did."

Naruto was stunned at the end of the story unable to move as he wrestled with his anger for the two that hurt Tenten like that. Tenten looked up at Naruto, tears now falling down the sides of her face from the pain of remembering those events. Naruto's anger died, instantly replaced with a need to comfort her so he smiled and lightly grabbed her arm.

"I'm an orphan too. I-I know how it feels. I never had a friend before I became a ninja, but I know how it feels to be thought of as useless. And to be scared of those bigger than you. I think you're great, and strong, and you care about others Tenten, and not a lot of people do that. You're good people Tenten, and I hope that we can be friends."

Tenten blinked and wiped away her tears smiling. She squeezed Naruto's hand in hers and he bit back a yelp of pain. "Sure thing Naruto. Thanks, I…I never told that story to anyone before. Thanks. For listening."

After the two of them smiled again to one another, Tenten helped Naruto back into his broken jacket, the bandages around his stomach and chest acting as a shirt. His pants, which had been cut down his legs into long strips so Tenten could heal his legs, waved a bit in the breeze, the bandages on his legs acting as under clothing. The two now ready, they began to make the painfully long trip over to the hospital.

Halfway to the hospital, the two of them nearly reached the Hokage tower where they ran into a woman with short black hair, a black kimono, and a pig in her arms. She took one look at Naruto before dropping the pig and rushing towards him.

"Heh, hi Shizune-neechan" Naruto said nervously. The lady Naruto knew as Shizune ran straight for Naruto and began to worry over him, asking questions and smothering him with concern. Tenten was so caught off guard by the woman that she nearly dropped Naruto as she was trying to pull out a kunai to fend off the sudden intrusion of personal space. She didn't even reach halfway to her pouch before Shizune latched her hand around Tenten's wrist.

"So Naruto-kun, who is this?" Shizune asked not even bothering to face Tenten.

"Oh, ah, that's my new friend Tenten. She's really great, she's the one who fixed me up."

Shizune raised her eyebrows and looked Tenten over as if appraising her slightly. Then with a smile and a satisfied nod Shizune clasped both her hands to Tenten's.

"Thank you for taking care of Naruto-kun. Did you do all of the bandaging yourself?"

"Y-yeah, I-uh-I put those on last. First I had to heal up his burns to a point where I could put a salve on them, then after applying it I was able to bandage him up. The burns were horrible all around, but the worst were centered on his face. I spent a good amount of chakra fixing it up to how it is now."

Shizune looked shocked that such a thing had happened to Naruto before searching his face and really inspecting him. She noticed large discoloration around the back of his neck and some dark spots on the bandages most likely from where extra salve had bled through. Still, if he was walking around then that must have meant that Tenten had done an excellent job on treating him with the limited chakra and resources that she had.

Smiling lightly, she pinched Naruto's cheeks and pulled, giggling at how his face stretched much to his embarrassment. "Well, his goofy face is all better now so thank you for helping him. I'm sorry that you went through so much trouble though, if I had known about this I would have taken him straight to Tsunade-sama for treatment."

"Oh! I completely forgot about Baachan." Naruto exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

Tenten perked up and turned to Naruto. 'Baachan?' She thought and looked Naruto over, not seeing anything Naruto could have in common with Tsunade other than hair color. "You know the legendary Tsunade personally Naruto?" She asked anxiously.

"Sure I know Tsunade-baachan, I'm the one who brought her back to the village." He said nonchalantly.

"It's true…Tenten was it? Yes, it's actually true, if it wasn't for Naruto then I doubt Tsunade-sama would have returned to become Hokage." Shizune informed Tenten.

"Wow…" Tenten's eyes sparkled and an idea formed. She turned to Naruto with and eager look and puppy dog eyes. "Naruto, can you please introduce me to her?"

Shizune giggled slightly, shaking her head and patting Tenten's lightly. "I'm sorry but Tsunade-sama is usually very busy and-"

"Sure thing Tenten! C'mon neechan lets go!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

Shizune bit her lip in slight nervousness. Really, since she was going to take Naruto to Tsunade anyways, having Tenten tag along wasn't something bad. But she didn't know whether or not she would get in trouble with Tsunade for bringing an uninvited girl with her when she just wanted Naruto healed up.

Sighing, she decided to give in to the children's request. Tsunade be damned, Shizune just couldn't say no to kids. It was her one true weakness. "Alright then, just grab onto me tightly. We're close enough so I think we can shunshin in."

Nodding the two grabbed hold of Shizune tightly before they disappeared in a burst of speed only to reappear moments later in Tsunade's office, dizzy and struggling not to barf because of their inexperience with the technique. Shizune steadied them, giggling, before turning to Tsunade who was now coming out of the shock of seeing Naruto so hurt.

"Naruto!" Tsunade shouted in worry catching everyone's attention as she leapt over her desk and headed straight for Naruto. She checked him over with an experienced eye and seemed to catch everything that was wrong with him. "What happened to you? How did you get burned so badly?" Tsunade asked, her voice filled with worry over her pseudo son.

Naruto mumbled something about a training accident and Tenten shook her head. Why was he defending those two? Well, that's something she could fix at least. She was about to speak up when Tsunade turned to her and looked her over.

"You seem familiar. Have we met?" Tsunade asked Tenten making her feel down about not being remembered by her idol when they had just met that morning.

"Yes Tsunade-sama, we met earlier this morning in fact. I'm Tenten a Genin of Konoha and we met while you were checking in on my teammate Rock Lee."

Tsunade blinked as recognition set in. "Ah, yes now I remember. Well then Tenten what are you doing here? Not to be rude but only a select few people are allowed to Shunshin into my office."

"I-I-I…" Tenten stammered, not quite capable of replying on the spot. Luckily, Naruto intervened for her.

"She wanted to meet you formally Baachan. She's like you're biggest fan." Naruto said, grinning at the way Tenten blushed and told him to be quiet in a hushed voice.

Tsunade merely raised an eyebrow, though the hint of a smile was on her face. "Really? Well I'm flattered Tenten, but as you can see I'm rather busy right now. Tell you what though, after I fix up Naruto we'll set a date to meet and talk. How's that?"

Tenten gaped before her face lit up like fireworks at a festival and nodded a yes. Tsunade smiled and turned to face Naruto again. She peeled back a bit of the bandages and stiffened slightly at the color and swelling.

"This is good first aid Shizune, if a little under you're usual standard. You just forgot to let the salve air out for a few minutes before applying to make it more potent, but it's still very effective. I should be able to heal this up no problem now, but why didn't you just heal him up fully with some medical jutsu? These are only second degree burns, you can usually take care of them with out too much trouble."

Shizune blinked before turning sheepish and rubbing her arm awkwardly. "Heh, actually Tsunade-sama I didn't treat Naruto at all. From what I understand, the one who's helped Naruto-kun so far is Tenten here."

That immediately caught Tsunade attention. Spinning around, she stared at Tenten with a new found intensity, her eyes going over Tenten completely as if trying to appraise her. Turning back to Shizune, the two women began to have a hurried conversation, all hushed tones and stares in Tenten's direction. After a few more moments Tsunade bent down to Tenten's eye level.

"You used a medical jutsu to turn his third degree burns to second degree burns correct?" Tenten only nodded, astounded that Tsunade deduced such a thing as she never told Shizune how severe the burns were. "Do you mind showing me the jutsu you used. Hand signs only." Nodding, Tenten showed the signs to which Tsunade grimaced a bit. "That one works slow so it causes enormous amounts of pain, but it is useful if you don't really know how to work a specific jutsu."

After that Tsunade began to quiz Tenten on other aspects of medical practice. After that she had Tenten show her all her equipment and analyzed each piece individually. After all was said and done she instructed Tenten to watch her closely as she approached Naruto and made several hand signs. Placing her hands on Naruto's chest, her hands glowed a bright green that enveloped Naruto's entire body for an instant before dying down and focusing on several different places, most notably the places he had been damaged the most. All Naruto felt was a slight discomfort and itchiness for half a minute before the jutsu ended and Tsunade peeled back some bandages to show smooth skin. Yipping in excitement, Naruto hugged Tsunade something fierce, the woman simply patting Naruto's head with a loving smile. Once they separated however, Tsunade faced Tenten again, her eyes all business.

"Alright I have a few questions for you. First of all, why do you know so much about medicine?"

Tenten breathed in and out slowly, dispelling her nerves. She had pictured a moment like this several hundred times before, and now all those long days of practicing this scene had paid off. "you're my idol, and I want to be an even better Kunoichi than you ever were. To surpass you is my greatest dream. So when I was younger I learned all I could about medicine. I don't use it much any more but, well…"

Nodding Tsunade merely continued on with her questions. "Second, why did you help Naruto?"

Tenten blinked for a second in surprise before looking around. "What is that like a trick question or something? He was hurt and I could help him. I didn't need a reason other than that. It's not like I could just abandon him there like his teammates." Tenten's eyes then widened before she covered her mouth in her hands, acting as if she had said something she shouldn't have. She of course had meant to say it, but that was no reason to act like she did.

"What was that?" Tsunade roared before turning to Naruto who filled her in on the whole story. Grinding her teeth and swearing severe punishment for Naruto's teammates, Tsunade shook her head and returned to Tenten.

"Because of this…revelation, I have some heavy thinking to do. So I want you to return tomorrow around noon so that we can finish our conversation. Oh, and bring you're parents along, I'd like a word with them." At Tenten's crestfallen face Tsunade's eyes widened. 'Oh, the poor thing.'

"I-um-I don't have any parents Tsunade-sama. I'm an orphan"

Nodding sadly, Tsunade gripped Tenten's shoulder. "I'm sorry. Well, you can bring Naruto instead if you'd like. Oh, and you're Jonin sensei Gai, he should be there."

Smiling sadly, Tenten bowed her head in thanks. "Hai, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade went back behind her desk and dismissed the three of them. As they left however, Tsunade called out to Naruto. "Hey gaki! Walk Tenten home. It's getting late."

"Alright, see you tomorrow Baachan!" Naruto called back, waving as he ran out the door.

* * *

><p>Tenten turned around as Naruto called out her name. As he caught up and fell into step with her he grinned brightly and put his hands to rest behind his head. Tenten raised an amused eyebrow and giggled a bit at Naruto.<p>

"Baachan said that I should walk you home, you know with how late it's getting. Is that okay?" He asked sheepishly. He has never walked a girl home before.

Tenten smiled at him, his nervousness was funny and…just a tiny bit cute. "Of course Naruto, I'd like that very much. Thank you."

Naruto nodded happily and the two of them began wandering the streets of Konoha talking casually. The moon was shining brightly, and the village nightlife had just started to come out. Deciding to get something to eat before going to Tenten's home, the pair looked around for somewhere good to eat, or at least someplace that you didn't need ID to eat in.

"Man," Tenten sighed as she was told to go away from another more mature restaurant (not that they understood that) and met up again with Naruto who was just as down on his luck (though for entirely different reasons) "where can we get something good to eat? It's almost nine so most places that would let us in are closing now."

Suddenly Naruto got a devious grin and grabbed Tenten's wrist. "C'mon, I know this great place that stay open real late. It's the best spot in the whole village!" Naruto increased his speed, practically dragging Tenten through the air who was outright laughing at the corny situation. She had never been dragged through the air, and although she didn't quite want to acknowledge it, it was very fun.

As they were running (ar rather running and being pulled) two notable people saw the duo. One Neji Hyuga who was on the streets having to escort his cousin, one Hinata Hyuga who had needed to rush out and purchase more yarn to finish the Naruto plushie that she was making. Both Hyuga spun around as they went unnoticed by the passing duo, a single thought passing through both of their minds.

'Naruto…and Tenten?'

The Hyuga's froze for nearly a minute before wordlessly agreeing to follow.

* * *

><p>Naruto finally stopped pulling Tenten, letting her land back on ground. She was a bit out of breath from all of the laughing she did, but a large smile had seemed to attach permanently to her face. Naruto grinned and leaned in to whisper in her ear.<p>

"Don't freak out and follow my lead." He whispered leaving Tenten a bit confused. She finally took in her surroundings and realized they were right outside of a ramen bar. Tenten sniffed the air and was immediately comforted by the delicious aroma of cooking food. Smiling Naruto wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, I remember my first time at Ichiraku's. Trust me, you will never find a better place to eat than right here. C'mon."

Naruto gently led Tenten inside and the two of them took a seat. As they waited for the chef Naruto fidgeted around with his charred jacket. It was in pretty bad shape, with the zipper broken and the seams begging to unravel around the shoulders. He slowly and gently took it off and rummaged in the inner pockets until he found a slightly blackened frog wallet. He opened it and pulled out a piece of bright blue paper before stuffing it into his jacket pocket and returning the wallet back.

"Naruto!" Tenten heard as Naruto put his jacket back on. "How's our best customer? What can I get for you?" A kind looking old man in a chefs uniform came out from the back and stood in front of the two, smiling at Naruto. His nametag read Tuechi.

"Hey old man Ichiraku, I came to cash in an old favor for something to eat. Oh, and I'd like you to meet Tenten."

Tenten introduced herself just as two pairs of all seeing eyes stopped on the die of the ramen bar. They leaned in closely, listening to the situation intently.

"Anyways like I said I'm here to cash in a promise." Naruto said as he pretended to rummage through his clothes again.

Chuckling a bit, Tuechi crossed his arms. "Oh? And what promise might that be?" He asked amused.

"Remember when I was ten, you said that if I ever brought a date for dinner that you'd cop my meal? Well this is my first date with Tenten so bring on the free ramen!"

Tuechi began to stutter, flabbergasted at the promise. Naruto ate enough for ten people, a free meal would mean he'd lose way to much money. Neji was shocked and a little angry at Naruto, who he suspected was up to no good and trying to take advantage of Tenten. (Which is technically correct, not that anyone would ever tell him that.) Hinata was paralyzed in despair, never before had she suspected that after Sakura there would be another girl that Naruto would try to pursue, let alone one that would actually date him. Tenten was surprised and about to protest when Naruto's words came back to her.

'Don't freak out and follow my lead.'

Now Tenten was grinning like mad. She liked pulling a prank just as much as the next person, and c'mon, free ramen.

"Yeah Tuechi-san, can you bring me and Naru-kun some ramen, pork preferably. Apparently this is the best place in the village to eat according to Naru-kun."

Tuechi could only stammer in response. "Y-y-you m-mean you two are really on a date?"

"Of course we are." They said in unison, smiling mischievously at each other out of the corner of their eyes. 'Perfect' They thought, also coincidentally in unison.

Tuechi though still wasn't quite sure what to do. He knew he made a promise to Naruto, but the price of that ramen… "Listen Naruto, I'm sure you to will have a fine date here, but I just don't remember any-" Immediately he was cut off as Naruto slammed the blue piece of paper from his wallet onto the counter. He leaned back on his stool in smug satisfaction at his victory as Tenten and Tuechi inspected the paper. It had "Date Coupon" written on it and Tuechi's signature at the bottom.

"What was that you were about to say Tuechi-san?" Tenten asked mischievously, amused at the emotions Tuechi was showing on his face.

"Ah-um-well what can I get for you two?"

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later Naruto made it to Tenten's home. It was a small, one bedroom apartment in one of the less than friendly parts of the village. It was much better than his own place but Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit sad for Tenten having to live alone in such a place.<p>

"Well home sweet home I guess. Thanks again for everything you did for me Tenten." Naruto said happily as the two stood outside of Tenten's door.

"No, thank you Naruto. This evening was really fun. You introduced me to Tsunade, talked to me like a normal girl, pulled me so I could fly through the whole village, and took me out to eat at a nice, homey place. I haven't enjoyed myself like this in a long time. It felt real good."

Tenten leaned forward and gave Naruto a chaste kiss on the cheek, reddening a bit in embarrassment before giggling at Naruto's own crimson face. She opened her door and stepped inside before turning to him.

"don't forget to pick me up early for our meeting with Tsunade. If you're early enough maybe we could go out for breakfast. Good night!" She said happily before closing the door. Naruto smiled softly and turned down the hallway so that he could make his way home, his heart and spirits lifted from how low they were earlier that day. Unknown to the two of them however, across the street two Hyuga's were seething in anger and jealousy.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright so How'd you like it? Again I would like to emphasize that I am not bashing on any characters. Sasuke is acting the way he is because of a reason you will see later, and Sakura actually was trying to find help for Naruto. She was going to say that Sasuke hit Naruto with a fireball and ask if Tenten and Neji knew anyone personally who could help. If not they would just continue straight to the hospital. So yes, reasons! Also please review. Every time yo dont review you're killing a penguin. Dont kill penguins.<strong>


	2. Confrontations with Hinata and Sasuke

**AN: Okay so heres the next chapter of my new story. It's a long one, and it's the most serious one out of all the chapters I have written down in my notebooks. This story is after all in the humor category but what's a good story without some heavy drama now and then. This chapter you get to see more girls enter the Naruto fray and a surprise villian going on the rampage near a pancake stand. You'll get that once you read it. So I hope you enjoy this chapter a lot because I went through hell with my computer to type it. I should be able to get one more chapter out before I go back to college so look forward to that sometime around saturday or sunday. Friday is my laid backl day so no chance of it coming out then. Anyways enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything related to it that isnt for retail sale. However I do own something even better. I own a GOOD idea for the Naruto plot. Kishimoto can't say that. Who's with me! X)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Confrontations with Hinata and Sasuke<strong>

Naruto rose up from his bed groggy and hungry like he always did. Scratching his head, he made his way over to his kitchen and opened his fridge. After the milk fiasco Naruto had always made sure to keep fresh groceries around and searched for something to much on. A glass of milk and a banana along with a shower later had him searching his closet for anything to wear. With his jumpsuit pants shredded he pulled out a pair of dark blue civilian slacks to wear along with a simple black t-shirt. He grabbed his charred and fraying orange jacket and tried to dust off the burnt look it had to no avail. Sighing, he put it on and checked the time, a bit disappointed that it was barely nine.

"I shouldn't go to her house yet, but I'm so bored with nothing to do today. Hmm…maybe I can try to see if Ino's in a helping mood." And with that Naruto ran out to meet the day.

* * *

><p>Ino Yamanaka casually leaned on the counter of her family's flower shop, reading an old magazine. She hated working the morning shift since practically no one came in until ten-thirty. Sighing, Ino turned another page when she heard the door chime.<p>

"Welcome to the Yama-Naruto! Hey come on in." Ino said happily to her fellow blond, glad for the company. Naruto grinned at the greeting and joined Ino at the counter as she pushed the magazine away and smiled mischievously. "Alright whiskers what's up? Did you finally take my advice to change your outfit or is this a one time thing?"

Naruto shook his head, frowning. "No actually all of my other clothes got destroyed, my jackets all that's left and it doesn't even zip up anymore. It's still pretty comfy but I don't know how much longer I can keep it since it's in such bad shape."

Ino looked at nodded as she checked out the jackets condition. Still she approved of how Naruto was looking right now, his beat up jacket left a feeling of toughness and mystery, his black shirt seemed to give good definition of his body, and those slacks of his were tight in all the right places. Oh yes, Ino was checking out Naruto, and soon found herself subconsciously licking her lips.

"Well then if it's not the clothes then it's gotta be the girl. How are you and Sakura doing?"

As Naruto's face darkened Ino felt a bit unsettled. A month ago she had befriended the blond with the intention of getting him and Sakura together, effectively leaving Sasuke all to herself where she could focus on chipping his defenses down instead of her rivalry. Since then, she's actually come to befriend the blond doofus, and despite genuinely enjoying his friendship she would still use him for her goals. Now however it seemed that Naruto didn't even want to think about Sakura.

"What's wrong Naruto? Did something happen between you two?" Ino asked concerned.

So Naruto told her the story of the previous day's fight and though Ino felt like he exaggerated a few parts (like he could give Sasuke too much trouble) she still felt appalled when he told her about Sakura leaving him for Sasuke.

"That…shallow bitch! I love Sasuke even more than she does but I would never done something like that! How could she have just left you there? I would have said that he could walk me home after we got you to the hospital. Ooh, I'm going to kill her!"

Naruto was shocked speechless and very touched by Ino's response to all this. Nobody had ever stood up for him like that, it nearly brought a tear to his eyes and it would have if he wasn't too manly for such emotional things despite the blurriness in he eyes that he was blaming on allergies. He quickly shook his head and caught Ino's attention.

"Ino I -calm down- Ino I cant tell you how much what you've just said meant to me, but that's not why I'm here. I need you're help with two things."

Breathing deeply so as to let go of her anger, Ino nodded, gesturing towards Naruto. "Sure thing whiskers, what do you need?"

Naruto turned sheepish for a moment, his face turning red in embarrassment. "Well, I kinda want to try and get over Sakura so do you think You can help me with that?" He muttered. Ino's eyes widened and her face heated up at what Naruto was implying. Was he trying to say that he wanted to pursue her now instead of Sakura? Did Naruto have feelings for her, or was he just trying to use her as a way to make him forget about Sakura. Before she could say anything he continued. "You know, like give me some help with how to act regularly around her, stop me from doing stupid stuff for her, coach me on stuff like that."

Blinking and mentally sighing in both relief and slight disappointment at the misunderstanding, Ino simply nodded her head. "Sure Naruto. So-uh-what's the second thing?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and looked like he was reluctant to even ask. "Can you…help me…go…shopping?" Naruto finally spit out. "I'm all out of ninja clothes and you're really good with clothes and haggling so I thought -"

Before Naruto could get another word out Ino had already squealed in glee and clasped both of his hands in hers as stars twinkled in her eyes. Shopping was one of her (many) passions and there was no way she would ever pass up the once in a lifetime chance to give Naruto a makeover. Already she had several new outfit ideas for Naruto.

"Oh Naruto of course I will! This is going to be great!" Ino shouted excitedly in the other blonds face, nearly popping an eardrum. She wiggled in even more delight as a particularly good outfit came to mind. Oh! And wouldn't highlights look good on that spiky blond hair of his. And shoes! He would need a good pair of fashionable and function able shoes to go with that. And-

And Naruto's hand was waving in her face. Blinking she moved her head back a little and refocused.

"Hey are you alright? You've been holding my hand and staring off into space for like three minutes now." Naruto said with a light reddening in his cheeks. He'd never held a girls hand before.

Ino yelped and pulled her own hand back, her face redder than a tomato. "I-I can help you shop once I'm out of work okay? How's two sound for you?"

Getting back into his own groove, Naruto grinned and clapped his hands. "Great! Thanks Ino, I owe you one!" He said before bursting out of the shop with as look towards the clock. Ino stared out at the entrance of the shop for a while before she heard someone give a slight cough behind her. Spinning around she saw her mom plop herself down on the counter right next to her, her amused smile telling Ino everything.

"Hmm, glad to see you're not entirely obsessed with the Uchiha boy. So when'd you get the boyfriend Ino?"

Ino's face flared and she tried to hide her face and respond at the same time. "He isn't my boyfriend!"

"Mmhmm. Of course not dear. Too bad, I was going to give you the rest f the day off to spend time with him but I guess since he's not you're boyfriend there's no need. So no slacking off and water those plants."

Ino cried out indignantly and moved to get the watering pail. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother exiting into the back of the store leaving her alone again. Slowly, she looked at her hand, the on that had held Naruto's, before turning away, her face heating up.

* * *

><p>Tenten was a woman of action. Or girl of action anyways. She was a girl of adventure, of pride. She was a girl that loved to prove that anything men did women could do better. Currently however she was a girl dripping wet in her bathrobe in her rundown apartment with the door broken down and a wide eyed and blushing Hyuga male stuttering as he tried to comprehend what was going on. In one swift move Tenten reacted on instinct and grabbed for the closest available weapon (a close by frying pan) and threw it right at Neji, hitting him just above his forehead protector and knocking him unconscious on the floor. It was only then that she realized just what had happened causing her to be properly embarrassed that Neji nearly saw her "girls". Tenten hurried into her room and locked the door before shouting in frustration. Why did she have to be so afraid of spiders?<p>

To properly understand what just happened we must travel back one minute to precisely 10:00.

Tenten was just walking out of her shower, refreshed and relaxed with her hair down. She was about to make her way to her room when she saw a rather large spider heading down from the ceiling towards her shoulder. Tenten screamed in terror and searched around for something to smash it with but found nothing.

At the moment Tenten screamed, one Neji Hyuga was making his way to Tenten's apartment. He was going to see if he could stop her from dating Naruto anymore. It wasn't because he was jealous of the blond haired idiot who defeated him in battle (no that would be a very un-Hyuga like thing to feel) but because he cared about his teammates well being.

There was no other reason for him to be heading to her house, nope, none at all. Suddenly he heard Tenten scream and without thinking he quickly ran to her door and kicked it down thinking that Tenten was in trouble. Instead he was met with quite a sight. Tenten, dripping wet and nearly naked with only her flimsy blue bathrobe covering her ('No don't use the Byakugan. Must…NOT…peep.'). The next thing he knew a frying pan was soaring right at him and he was out like a light. Eight minutes after this little fiasco Tenten came out of her room, fully dressed and glared down at the unconscious boy.

'How could this happen? This isn't fair!' She thought. Her crush had nearly seen her naked. She'd tried to get Neji to notice her as a woman for so long and now this happens. Sure he may finally take more notice in her but now it would probably only be for her body!

'No! I can fix this! This is just another challenge that the universe is giving me to prove my love. First Neji will come for my assets, but he'll fall for my personality and mind.'

Done with her inner monologue Tenten sighed and lifted Neji, moving him to her couch. She leaped back and stretched as her clock struck 10:10 and Naruto appeared right outside her door.

"Hey Ten- What the! What happened to the door?"

Tenten turned to Naruto and blinked. He looked completely different from yesterday. His new clothes put her into such a shock she nearly forgot to breath. 'He looks…really good.' she thought.

"N-Naruto? what are you doing here so early?"

"Hey, I asked a question first, what happened? And is that Neji on you're couch?"

Tenten blushed and stammered. "Well, you see, I kinda knocked Neji out."

"What? Why"

"No, it's you're turn now. What are you doing here so early?" Tenten said scowling.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Fine, I came to pick you up. Why'd you knock out Neji?"

"He broke down my door and nearly - ah, why are you coming to get me so early?"

Naruto shrugged and chuckled embarrassedly. "You said we might be able to get breakfast before going to meet Baachan. I decided to come earlier since it's easier to eat without you're crazy sensei. Is that all that Neji did?"

Tenten's face turned bright red and she shook her head. "Nothing else happened okay? Anyways yeah lets go get something to eat." With that Tenten searched around her apartment for a few things. She wrote a quick note sticking it to Neji's nose, grabbed her gear, and set a few traps around her door before forcing Naruto out the door and accidentally pushing him off of the guardrail. Tenten shouted in shock and looked over the rail to see Naruto sprawled on the ground, a large bump forming just on top of his head.

"That looks like it hurt." Tenten muttered to herself before she leaped down to help Naruto.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Tenten walked calmly down the street talking. Naruto began waving his arms frantically, a huge smile on his face, and Tenten's mouth hung slack before a fit of laughter overcame her. Hinata growled in anger at the older girl. This caused Hinata to pause. <em>Older <em>girl. Maybe Naruto likes older girls? That would explain why he liked Sakura since she was older than him. And Ino too, even though she's only about two weeks older than him. At the thought of the blond hussy Hinata got even more angry. How did that blond banshee get into the mix? What was her business with Naruto? It didn't matter, just one more obstacle in her way to getting Naruto.

Hinata blinked having momentarily lost sight of them. She looked around and saw them heading into a new café. Hinata scowled and hid on the side of the building activating her Byakugan.

* * *

><p>Naruto pulled out a seat for Tenten and she smiled at him as she sat. Chivalry was not sexist in her grateful opinion. He sat down in his own seat a bit hesitantly, his eyes shifting around a bit. Tenten raised her eyebrows and decided to say something.<p>

"Naruto, are you okay?" She asked, concerned about his behavior.

Naruto straightened up and put on what he hoped was a disarming smile. "It's just…are you sure you want to be seen with me somewhere like this? I mean, I don't have the greatest reputation. We could go some-"

"Naruto be quiet. You're my friend, I'm not going to be ashamed of you or something. Why don't you just relax, look over the menu, and enjoy you're time. Everything will be just fine."

Naruto let a small smile grace his lips before immediately being replaced with a look of worry as someone grabbed the back of his jacket and lifted him backwards off his chair.

"I thought I made it clear brat, I don't want you coming anywhere near my restaurants." Tenten was shocked motionless as a middle aged man hissed the words into Naruto's ear before dropping him on the floor and proceeding to literally kick him until Naruto ran out of the café, all to the cheers of the other customers.

Naruto spared a quick look behind him and saw Tenten just sitting there at the table, doing nothing but staring at him. Suddenly her face became furious and Naruto turned away, running as fast as he could from the girl who seemed to be angry with him just to fit in with the crowd. From the girl he had thought was his friend.

However Tenten wasn't angry at Naruto. The whole time she was shocked motionless at the amount of prejudice directed at Naruto. It was only after he was kicked out and he turned to look at her did his hurt and dejected face cause something in her to snap. How DARE they! Her face became a snarl as she rounded on the middle aged man that was heading back to her table.

"What the fuck is wrong with you! How could you do something like that to him. He's only thirteen for Kami's sake. We may be ninja but we're still essentially kids!" She shouted at the man who's face just became more and more sour.

"That…monster is no child. He is a menace and should have been run out of this village years ago!" The man said to the general approval of the rest of the café.

Tenten couldn't stomach the reaction. She rose up with all her force, sending the chair flying behind her and slammed her hands on the table, snapping a large part of it off. She extended her finger and moved it about the room, making sure to point at everyone in it.

"You're all sick in the head! How can you stand, let alone cheer for such cruelty? Forget that he's a ninja that's sworn to protect you all with his life, forget that he's someone who's done nothing but try his best to help people, forget that he's someone who actually cares about other people, he is just a thirteen year old kid! And what you did to him…you all deserve to go to hell." Tenten sent one last hard look at each person in the café before giving two one finger salutes and running out the café after her friend.

* * *

><p>Naruto was sitting against a wall in a murky alleyway. He still felt the pain every time. Not the physical pain, he could stand that, but the emotional pain. That was still something he had trouble handling. He had hoped that the difference in his usual wardrobe would hide him in plain site but it seemed that they still found him. Worse yet was that look of fury Naruto had seen on Tenten's face when they were looking at each other. He just couldn't handle her rejection too so he ran. Like he always did.<p>

Naruto heard a pair of shuffling feet and quickly rose to run when he heard just who it was.

"N-N-Naruto?" The small voice called.

Naruto relaxed for a moment as he put the voice to a name. It was Hinata. Hinata! His eyes widened as a sudden chilling fear gripped him. Hinata had a huge crush on him and she could go crazy with jealousy. He remembered one time at Ichiraku's when Ayame had told him about how Hinata had threatened her not to try anything with him or else. Naruto had then started to pick up on what the girl would do around him and how she would obsessively follow him around, not to mention send death threats to nearly every girl that was friendly with him.

(Which wasn't many really. If you counted Ayame, the daughter of one of his neighbors that would sneak out and eat sweets and leftovers from her family with him, and an ex-stripper from the red light district that acted as an occasional older sister and was marked as his emergency contact, you would have three girls. Three nice, attractive girls, but we'll get to them in a few chapters.)

Naruto wanted to bolt from his spot behind the trash can in the alley but that could only make his situation worse. Hinata would surely give chase, and she'd ask why, and he'd have to tell her, then she'd cry before killing him with those finger jab things she does. So he'd have to play it cool.

"H-H-H-H-H-Hinata?" He stuttered out, hoping he kept the fear out of his voice. Didn't really work. "What are you doing here?" He asked. As if he didn't already know. It was a Thursday, and she always stalked him from dawn to dusk on Thursday's. She'd probably been following him since he left his house this morning.

Sudden realization struck Naruto. If Hinata had followed him around all morning that meant that she saw him with Ino and Tenten. Naruto knew Hinata wouldn't just dismiss something like having breakfast with Tenten or making plans with Ino, she'd down right plan for those girls to get lost. The girls were in serious danger. Naruto started to rise but froze.

'I cant tip her off that I know something. Think! How can I get away to check on the girls?'

"Well N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said finally answering Naruto. "I was out sh-shopping and saw you running somewhere with this l-l-look on you're face that had me worried. So I c-came to see if you were alright."

Naruto rubbed his face in frustration and focused. He stood up and faced Hinata who shied back a bit. He swallowed hard and created a Kage Bunshin before running away. Hinata was startled at first and moved to chase after Naruto but the Bunshin got in her way.

"Hinata wait! Listen to me!" Hinata paused and stared at the clone. "Hinata…I just want to be alone right now okay? Please don't follow me. Can you do that for me?"

Hinata bit her lip then hung her head. "Yes Naruto-kun. I-I-I just wanted to help."

"That's alright, I understand. Well so long." The Naruto Bunshin dispelled itself and Hinata was left alone in the alley, a few tears falling to the pavement.

* * *

><p>Naruto stopped his sudden retreat. As soon as his clone had dispelled itself he had acquired knowledge of the short talk it had with Hinata. That had never happened before. Naruto pondered this even for a moment before making four more Bunshin. Wordlessly, two went to the Yamanaka flower shop to protect Ino discreetly, while two more went in search of Tenten to make sure Hinata didn't try to pull anything with her.<p>

Naruto turned towards his right and looked at the clock in a shop window. It was only 10:40. How could such a nice day turn so badly so early? He sighed and made his way back home, intent on just staying inside for the rest of the day. However the universe wasn't done fucking with him yet.

"Naruto! Hey dobe!" Naruto stopped in his tracks, his anger swelling. It was Sasuke dammit! Naruto turned around and blinked. Naruto was walking towards him with Sakura. But Sakura was ahead of the Uchiha and seemed to be ignoring him. What was up with that?

A small twinge of hope seeped it's way into Naruto's heart before he forcefully destroyed it. He had decided to stop chasing Sakura yesterday after she abandoned him. The last thing he wanted to do was to just forgive her as if nothing happened. And it seemed she was now uncomfortable around him too, what with how she kept avoiding looking at him. Sasuke though seemed to only look at him.

"Nice clothes dobe, what did you do? Rob a good will store?" Sasuke said, a smirk playing across his face.

"What do you want teme?" Naruto said, anger evident in his voice.

"I just wanted to tell you that I've got a meeting with the new Hokage this morning. Actually Sakura does too. We're on our way their now. You didn't get a summon for a meeting did you?" Sasuke asked, knowing full well that Naruto didn't if he was going in the direction away from Hokage tower.

Naruto's face soured. Sasuke thought he was so superior, well he wasn't so special. Naruto was about to tell Sasuke about his own meeting with Baachan when he realized that it wasn't his meeting, it was Tenten's. That brought a defeated look to his face that Sasuke assumed was caused by Naruto's lack of special attention.

'The dobe should have known tat all that stuff would go away as quickly as it came. Training with a Sannin, a secret A-rank mission out of the village, the new Hokage's apparent favor. He's just a no name orphan who should have realized all that stuff was temporary. And now it's left, like I knew it would.'

"Come Sakura, let's go." Sasuke said, turning around to go back the way he came. Sakura turned towards Sasuke's figure with a scowl and sighed before turning and facing Naruto, a nervous look on her face. Quickly she wrapped her arms around him for less then a second before pulling away and turning.

"I'm really glad you're okay Naruto. And I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I really am. I just wanted you to know that." And with that Sakura walked off in the same direction as Sasuke, leaving a very shocked, very confused Naruto behind.

Unknown to either of them, Sasuke had seen the whole thing and was brooding over it. 'I need to hurt you more now Naruto. I need you to be stronger, and the only way you can do that is by suffering loss and gaining hatred, even if it is directed at me. So I'll take everything away from you for you're benefit as much as mine.'

* * *

><p>Tenten couldn't find the blond anywhere. It didn't make sense, she had left maybe a minute after he ran away, there was no way he should have gotten so far ahead of her that she couldn't track him. It was almost as if someone had destroyed any trail that she could have used to find him.<p>

After an hour of futile searching Tenten was starving and her meeting with Tsunade was too close to spend anymore time on searching for the blond. She would just have to go to the meeting with Gai sensei only. But first, she had to get some food in her before she dropped.

Looking around the market place, Tenten spied a cute little pancake stand. She sat at the counter and placed her order, enjoying the smell of fresh cooking when she was suddenly paralyzed by an overwhelming killer intent. Acting on instinct Tenten shot out of her seat and drew a kunai looking for the source. Imagine her surprise when she found Hinata Hyuga walking towards her with the meanest look she had ever seen.

"Hinata?" Tenten asked, confused but still wary. "Hinata are you okay?"

Hinata glared at her, a facial expression Tenten honestly thought the Hyuga girl was incapable of having.

"You know Tenten, I thought you were nice. I thought you were a good friend. I thought that you would actually help me with my confidence problems and help me win the heart of my true love before any other girl could get him. You didn't help at all."

Tenten blinked then remembered a time when she had promised to help Hinata win the heart of some kid that always wore orange. 'Wait a minute. She couldn't mean…'

"Wait you meant Naruto? Well what are you coming after me for? Just because I wasn't able to help doesn't mean you should blame me instead of the girl who…took…him. Oh." It suddenly made sense. Hinata must have seen them walking the streets, laughing and going into a restaurant together. She must have thought that she was dating Naruto!

"Why did you do it Tenten? Why? Did you want to hurt me? Did you fall for him after simply hearing my stories about him? Or did you think that Nii-san would notice you more in Naruto's arms?"

Tenten blinked in confusion and shock. "What was that?" Tenten asked incredulously. Like she was that type of girl. "What's Neji got to do with this?"

Hinata stopped moving. She had seen something on Tenten's face when she mentioned Neji. Then a snarl escaped her lips.

"That _is _why! You're just using Naruto-kun to get Nii-sans attention! You bitch! How dare you do?"

Hinata activated her Byakugan and charged at Tenten. Tenten began to move when a flash of burnt orange passed over her head and grabbed Hinata by the arms. Hinata started to struggle and shout before realizing who it was.

"Naruto?" Both Tenten and Hinata asked in shock. Two Naruto clones held onto Hinata, restraining her and nearly causing the girl to faint before she realized that neither of the Naruto's were real. Then Hinata had an epiphany.

"Doppelgangers? He…he put a tail on me? Me?" Hinata began to cry in anger as she slapped the clone holding her right arm. It poofed out of existence. Then she focused on the other clone.

"Why? Why did he do it? Well? I know, he had to be concerned about me, that's all. Right? There's no other reason. He cares about me, so he wanted to make sure that I got home okay." Hinata spewed out any rationale she could think of, panicking and trying to stay away from the possible truth of the matter. He couldn't reject her love. He just couldn't!

The Naruto clone began to panic and Tenten tried to edge forward, but Hinata turned to stare her down. "Don't try anything! You'll still get yours, just you wait! I just want to know why Naruto-kun put a tail on me first." She turned back to the clone and grabbed it by the jacket, shaking it a bit.

"Okay, okay! He was afraid you'd go after Tenten and made us follow you to stop you from hurting her. He didn't want to see her get hurt because you're too much of a possessive psycho!"

Hinata froze at those words. He knew. Naruto knew that she liked him. And he still refused t talk to her about it. Refused to be around her for too long. Continued to try and get dates from other girls. He…rejected her. Completely. And he was more concerned about how she would react towards the other girls than he was about her feelings of rejection.

Tears began to flow out of her eyes and as she dropped to the floor and wailed in sorrow. The crowd that had gathered all tried to get closer to her to comfort her but were halted by Tenten's raised hand. She walked over to Hinata and looked down at her, pity in her eyes.

"Why. I-I-I love him-im. Sh-shouldn't-nt that be e-enough?" Hinata bawled out, her eyes screwed shut as she wailed again.

Tenten kneeled down next to Hinata and tried to grab her friends hand but Hinata slapped her hand away. She back up to her full height and kicked Tenten away with a chakra enhanced foot. Tenten went soaring back past the crowd of lookers and towards a store window. She braced herself for impact with the glass when she found herself suddenly grabbed by something soft and warm. She slowed to a stop in the persons arms before looking up at the face of her savior, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Sorry I didn't get here sooner. I was halfway home when she dispelled the clone. You okay?" Naruto asked, his hardened gaze never leaving Hinata's form. Tenten nodded and Naruto set her down. "Good."

"N-Naruto!" Hinata cried out in a panic. She hadn't expected the boy to show up. She turned to the clone next to her and saw it sigh in relief. Hinata turned back to Naruto, frantic. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto looked around at the crowd. They stood stock still, frozen in fear of him as if he was suddenly going to attack. He sighed and rubbed his eyes before staring back at Hinata.

"What do you think you're doing Hinata? You know this isn't right! You don't attack your friends, you protect them! What were you thinking?"

Hinata shook and tried to speak but couldn't find her voice.

"Hinata, I'm sorry. I should have just told you I didn't like you like that, but you have to understand Hinata, that you cannot hurt those close to me. That's not fair to anybody."

"B-but," Hinata began to stutter out between gasps and tears. "You, you're my Naru-"

"No." Naruto said softly cutting Hinata off. "I'm not yours Hinata. I never was. And I never will be."

Hinata just couldn't take anymore. She broke down, sobbing, calling Naruto's name and all the said blond could do was look at the ground in front of him. Tenten looked at Naruto with a mix of respect, confusion, and empathy. She touched his shoulder and Naruto reflexively moved away. Then he noticed it was Tenten and looked away from her.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in that Tenten. I'll just go now." Before Tenten could say anything at all Naruto turned and leapt towards the rooftops. Tenten looked between Hinata on the ground and the disappearing Naruto before leaping up to the rooftops and chasing after the boy.

Hinata looked up towards the two running figures and curled into a ball, heartbroken. She wailed out and the crowd ran away from her in fear. Surprisingly however, those that fled would go on to immediately tell everyone they could about what had just happened. And so it spread like wildfire, the tale of the Evil Princess, the noble Warrior Girl, and the Kind Hearted Demon Boy.

* * *

><p>"-shamed of yourselves!" Tsunade finished ranting, breathing heavily due to all the yelling she ended up doing. She slammed her hands on the table in her office and leaned forward, an imposing figure to the two terrified (though the male would never admit it) Genin. "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" Tsunade asked as she sat back into her chair.<p>

There was nothing but silence for a long while as Sakura and Sasuke mainly looked at the floor. However, having had gone through more emotional roller coasters in the past twenty four hours than she had in the last thirteen years of her life, Sakura seemed to take it as just one more punch to the gut. So it was with great surprise that she found herself talking first.

"There is nothing I can do that will ever make what you _think_ I did okay. But I know what I did and I have no shame in doing it. I know what it must have looked like to Naruto, but I only know that now. When Naruto took that fireball for me…there is no way that I would be ungrateful to him for it. I wanted to help him, I really did, but I had no idea what I could do. I was useless in such a situation. So I decided that if I couldn't help him then I would find someone who could. So I ran off in the direction of the hospital, which coincidentally is where Sasuke was waiting for me."

Tsunade scowled at the pink haired girls story. Did she really think she could get away with this pathetic excuse? "Then would you please care to explain exactly why you never returned to the training ground? Tenten said that she must have been there healing Naruto for no less than two hours. The trek to the hospital would never take that long."

At this Sakura bowed her head in shame and stayed silent. Tsunade grunted in self assurance. She new that the girl was lying. "I did go back." Tsunade blinked in surprise before setting a harsh glare at the girl who was still staring at the ground.

"What was that? You went back?" Tsunade asked sternly, subtly telling the girl that she had better watch what she said next.

Sakura looked up from the floor and stared fiercely at Tsunade, stunning her. Sakura's eyes had a strength she had seen in only one other girl, despite the tears that were threatening to fall from them.

"I said that I did go back. After I ran into Tenten to ask if they new someone who could help, Tenten falsely assumed that I had left Naruto at the training grounds so I could spend time with Sasuke. She got so angry with me I don't doubt that if I hadn't told her that Naruto was badly injured she would have tried to hurt me physically instead of just verbally. After she ran off part of me wanted to curl up and cry, but another part of me, the part that won out, wanted me to forget everything I was doing and chase after her to hurt her. So I ran towards the training grounds as well. Only…when I got there I froze."

Sakura swallowed, trying to organize her now frantic memories and feelings of the previous night. "I saw Tenten on the ground next to Naruto, struggling to heal his face. I saw how, as she finished, she smile reassuringly at Naruto and run her thumb over his healed cheek. I heard Naruto croak out a thank you and Tenten telling him not to thank her yet, that the rest would be slower. Naruto simply said he was ready before they started, and I heard Naruto's cries of pain. I didn't stay longer than five minutes, I couldn't take hearing those screams and seeing the tears that were falling from his eyes. I couldn't get the scene out of my head though and I just ran back home and hid in my room. I couldn't help Naruto at all. I did something worse than abandoning him. I left him in pain so that I could help myself. I'm so sorry."

Sakura wiped away her tears and rapidly blinked her eyes. Ninja weren't supposed to cry and she had just done so in front of her Hokage. She really was useless. She wouldn't be surprised if she was taken out of the ninja ranks for her failures.

Tsunade just looked at the pink haired girl, a few thoughts going through her mind. This girl…she was an emotional wreck. At first she had started off as strong and confident, but throughout that whole explanation her confidence faded into nothing and she could see that she was physically exhausted from explaining everything. The bags around her eyes were probably from a lack of sleep from -if what she said was true- picturing Naruto's burnt and crying body. And she could see that the girl was preparing herself for a rejection from the Hokage, probably thinking that she would be stripped of her rank or sent to jail or whatever sad idea of punishment that only fresh thirteen year old Genin could come up with.

This girl was either the most talented actress in the entire world, or she was telling Tsunade the truth. Tsunade was inclined to believe the latter. With a sigh, she rubbed her forehead and took a look at Sakura's file again before setting it down and addressing the pinkette.

"Sakura, you said that you were useless in that situation. Well you are right. You were useless, both in your personal inability to help Naruto as well as your inability to get a proper healer for him. Luckily you ran into Tenten who has a very good grasp of medicine and was able to help him, but that is besides the point. Your file says that you have excellent chakra control and that you are both a fast learner as well as a very technical student. So I have a proposition for you. Do you want to stop being this useless girl Sakura?"

Sakura shifted into her professional face but Tsunade could see the yearning in her eyes as she nodded. "Very much so Hokage-sama."

Nodding, Tsunade leaned forward on her desk. "Then Sakura, you will have to do everything that will be expected of you without complaint, without delay, and without any form of defiance or attitude. You will follow all instructions to the letter, even if the reasons have not been explained to you, and you will have to go for days without rest sometimes. Do you think you can handle that Sakura?"

Without any moment of hesitation Sakura responded. "If it's so that I will never be useless again then I would gladly do triple of what is needed of me."

Tsunade smiled challengingly at that. She had to be careful or else she would take a liking to this girl. "Alright then. Sakura Haruno, for your punishment to be carried out I first have to introduce you to someone." Turning to look at the woman behind her, Tsunade smiled. This would work as her final test. "Come forward Shizune and meet you're new apprentice."

Shizune's eyes widened drastically as she tried to stutter out a response. Before that however Tsunade turned back to Sakura. "Sakura, this woman behind me is my aid, friend, and apprentice. However, effective immediately she is your new sensei. You will be her apprentice in all things medicine. Do you understand?"

Sakura nodded confidently as a bright smile overwhelmed her face and she turned to introduce herself to her new sensei. Or at least she tried to. Unfortunately Shizune was too overwhelmed by the news and promptly fainted.

"Heh, well, you can start training once she wakes up." Tsunade shook her head in mirth before she refocused all her attention on the only male in the room. "Now then Uchiha, do you have anything to say?"

Sasuke just stared at the Hokage, clearly displeased about this whole meeting. He rolled his eyes and grunted that he had nothing to say and he would willingly take whatever punishment she gave him without trouble.

Tsunade smiled conspiratorially. "Really now? Well then Uchiha, I have a special punishment for you."

* * *

><p>"Naruto wait!" Tenten shouted at the blond who was a few rooftops ahead of her. Naruto turned to see Tenten chasing him and landed on a random rooftop, stopping, all the while the look Tenten had on her face back at the café was going through his mind. Tenten landed just behind him and raised her hand to grab his shoulder and talk to him when he suddenly spun around and spoke, his voice harsh and his eyes pained.<p>

"Fine! You know what, it's already been a shitty day, I don't fucking care anymore, so go ahead! No really, take your best shot, it's not like you'll get in trouble, hell everyone's doing it! It might as well be our damn national sport! Just leave me alone once you're done!" Naruto finished by extending his arms and closing his eyes, body braced for impact.

Tenten was taken back by Naruto's sudden shouting and stared at him, mouth open in a yet to be spoken question.

"Naruto…what are you talking about? What are…did you…did you think I wanted to hurt you?"

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and lowered his arms. He gazed at Tenten, searching her face, eyes, body for any type of deceit and found nothing. Chuckling sadly he slumped against the rooftops door and slid down to the floor. He cupped the back of his head in his hands as he stared at the ground in front of him. "Great, just great. The one time I decide to just deal with it…I was completely wrong."

Tenten moved towards Naruto and stared down at his slumped form. He was shaking and Tenten could just barely make out a few water stains directly under where his face was. She lowered herself and sat on the floor next to Naruto, putting her hand softly on his back. He reflexively shied away from the touch but Tenten forcefully pulled him close.

"Naruto. Do people hurt you a lot? Like really often?"

Naruto did nothing but nod.

"And nobody cares? Nobody does anything to help you?"

Naruto shook his head and began to openly cry.

"Do…do they like to hurt you?" She asked.

Naruto nodded again.

Tenten looked down Naruto, afraid of the answer to her final question. "How long? Naruto how long has this been going on?"

Naruto looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. He tried to speak but his mouth could only make sobbing sounds. Finally he was able to cry out one word before completely breaking down.

"Years." He cried out and sobbed into his hands.

Tenten began to tear up and moved closer. She grabbed Naruto and pulled him into a hug where he broke down even more and ended up crying on Tenten's stomach, Tenten just continued to hold onto him tightly, tears freely falling from her face now. The two of them stayed that way for nearly an hour before both had had enough rest after crying their eyes out. Naruto lifted his head off of Tenten's damp stomach and sat back against the roof door. Tenten straightened up and did the same, the two of them turning their heads up to look at the sky.

"Are you going to be okay?" Tenten asked hesitantly. She was concerned for Naruto, and was worried that even after all that crying and venting that there was still a lot of emotional pain hidden in him.

Naruto slowly nodded, content for some reason, as if the tears had washed away a huge sadness in his heart he hadn't quite known was there. "Yeah. I think…I think I'm going to be okay."

Tenten stared at Naruto out of the corner of her eye for a moment before a relieved smile made its way onto her face. She breathed easily and put her hand in his. "Thanks. For helping me with Hinata. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up."

Naruto shook his head slowly and gripped her hand tighter. "It was nothing, I'm just sorry I didn't tell you about her sooner. She's surprisingly possessive for such a shy girl."

Tell me about it." Tenten said, a bit of amusement finding its way into her voice.

"Oh man! I just remembered!"

"What?"

"Your appointment with Baachan! We missed it because of me." Naruto said guiltily.

Tenten shook her head and stood up, bringing Naruto up with her. "It was not your fault we missed it. It's no one's fault. Stuff happens okay? I can always reschedule with her." Naruto didn't seem at all convinced by her words. "Plus this means we can have a nice lunch now. What do you think?" She asked, glad that she finally got him to listen to her words.

Naruto paused and stared at Tenten. "But, what about what happened at the restaurant?"

"Screw them! They're a bunch of assholes! How could they treat you like that?"

Naruto smiled and gripped Tenten's hand tighter. She pulled him towards the side of the rooftop and gave him a huge smile.

"I'm glad to see you can still smile…I'm sorry for taking so long to act back at the restaurant Naruto."

"It's okay Tenten. If it's all the same to you I'd rather not talk about it."

"I understand." she said as she began to toe the side of the building in preparation, the boy at her side doing the same. "C'mon, I know this deli that makes the best sandwiches, and don't worry, they're the friendliest people I know. They even cop my meals sometimes."

Naruto smiled and leaned forward. "Sounds like my kind of place." With a nod to Tenten the two reared up and leapt off the side of the building, their hearts so light they almost felt as if they were flying.

* * *

><p>Sasuke Uchiha grumpily walked down the streets of Konoha alone. After the meeting with that blasted Tsunade he couldn't be around Sakura another instant.<p>

'Just great! I try to help the dobe get stronger and I get suspended from active duty for three months! For crying out loud, how could this happen? And Sakura of course gets off Scot free. Well maybe not. From that description the hag gave she's in for hell. Still, she gets to train under the Hokage's apprentice. The kiss up.'

"Hey did you hear about the demo- I mean Naruto and the Hyuga heiress?" Sasuke heard some random civilian say to someone. He stopped and listened in for anything he could use on Naruto.

"You mean what happened an hour ago? Yeah, I still cant believe it!" The second person said, her voice clearly telling how impressed he was with the situation.

"I know." The first woman continued. "I would have never guessed that the heiress loved him, and to think she tried to get rid of her competition by fighting this real powerful Kunoichi the boy had feelings for, only for Naruto to show up and save his girl from the heiress's underhanded attack. What was that girls name again…?"

"Oh, I remember!" The second woman said. "Tenten. The girls name was Tenten."

Hidden around the corner, Sasuke Uchiha smiled cruelly. He had a new target.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow, that was a doozy 8,038 words of pure story. This is my longest chapter to date of all my fanfics. 13 pages on Word Document in 10 size font. Yeah, I'm real proud of myself. So please, don't let my hard work be in vain! I really do love reviews so if you can find it in your heart to give me one I would greatly appreciate it. Here's hoping i get into double digits for reviews received.<strong>


	3. Confrontations with Neji and a jerk

**Well Here we are again! Man, truthfully I never thought I would get this chapter finished, but lo and behold, here it is! Now, I'm sorry that you all had to wait so long but I really do believe that this chapter will make the wait worth it. College is going great, but it's keeping me busier than I expected, I have nearly no time to devote to writing. But I'm gonna try to devote each weekend to writing. **

**So in other news I celebrated my 19th birthday and got this brand spanking new laptop two days ago. It's actually what made me buckle down and just finish this chaper so everyone who was waiting for this one should thank my mom for such an awesome present. This would have been out a lot sooner, but I didnt want to progress in the story until I had a drawing of the new clothes, but my artist dropped the ball on it. So I ended up having to do it myself. I only have one drawing though, as one of them was too hard to draw myself, I wanted it to be perfect. The link will be on my profile page. So without any further delay I give you chapter three!**

**Disclaimer: Okay so one last delay. I do not own Naruto, if I did then you better believe that there would be at least one crazy fangirl exploding each chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Confrontations with Neji and a jerk<strong>

Naruto waved goodbye to Tenten as they went their separate ways after their lunch. The sandwiches at the deli Tenten took him to were the tastiest he had ever had. They ate and talked for more than an hour before Naruto had to go. Now heading down the street Naruto noticed something odd. The villagers were staring at him differently.

Where before he had been stared at with hate, and even ignored, almost everyone was staring at him with a mix of several different emotions. Confusion, consideration, hope, acceptance even! Naruto was utterly perplexed by these actions. Little did he know that ever since he helped Tenten with Hinata (a little over three hours ago now) the whole village had been scrambling around trying to spread the word, resulting in crazy rumors and renditions of the story to be born.

Many villagers were confused as they couldn't understand how a demon like Naruto could possibly feel so human. Others thought that it wouldn't be so bad for Naruto o learn more about relationships, to understand how it feels to be a regular person in that way. Many females approved of Naruto's handling of the situation especially the thought of how Naruto swooped down to save his one true love from the innocent eyed deceiver. Most people however just hoped that Naruto would prove that he wasn't a monster and that he can be happy in love. The only reason for this though was because if they didn't hope that then the only other possible outcome would be Naruto going on a rampage and killing the girl he saved if she happened to reject him. Not a nice thought for anyone.

Naruto however took all these looks warily. He could feel the shift in opinions of him but it had happened much too fast. Something must have happened that he didn't know about and it put him a bit on edge. Naruto picked up his pace and began running, his open jacket flying behind him like a cape as he went straight up a buildings side and made his way over the rooftops. After a short trip, he leaped off the side of a building with a shout of excitement and landed right next to Yamanaka Ino, waiting for him right outside of her shop. Ino jumped back and cried out in surprise at Naruto's entrance. The boy was just laughing at Ino's expression, and was trying hard not to fall on the floor and make Ino even madder.

"Na-ru-to." Ino slowly growled out. Naruto immediately straightened out in fear. Ino walked over to him, hands on her hips, and leaned forward into his space to glare at him right in the eye. "You baka! What the hell are you thinking scaring me like that! If you remember correctly you asked me for my help, so you better not act like that while you're with me or You'll be on your own. Got it?"

Naruto raised his hands defensively and backed up from Ino hoping to survive the verbal onslaught. "Alright, alright, I get it. Sorry I just thought it would be funny to surprise you like that."

Ino crossed her arms and pouted out, annoyed. She seemed to be thinking hard then sighed in reluctance. She began walking forward and raised her hand. Naruto flinched but felt only a light pat on his head. He opened his eyes and saw Ino walking past him, a mischievous smile on her face.

"C'mon whiskers, we've got some heavy duty shopping to do!" Ino announced excitedly before charging forward, Naruto trailing behind her as he tried to catch up.

* * *

><p>Tenten ascended the stairs to her apartment floor in low spirits. She had a great time with Naruto, but coming back home reminded her of Neji. She knew Neji must be furious with her for knocking him out and leaving that note on his head. She knew she was completely justified in her actions as she was protecting her womanly honor, but she didn't believe that Neji would see it that way. He may spurn Tenten away now, then she'd never have a chance to be with him.<p>

As Tenten came onto her floor she saw that her door was fixed on its hinges again. Neji must have actually followed the directions on her note. That was…surprising. She had expected him to just leave off in a huff.

Tenten brought out her keys and unlocked the door when she suddenly heard Neji's shout of pain. She pushed the door open, kunai in hand and ready to fight, only to see Neji in her small kitchen wearing her frilly pink heart apron (she got it in a bargain sale for 80% off) and swearing at the stove as he held his hand. Tenten's eyes twitched and she had to force a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Neji turned around to her and gave her an annoyed expression.

"Go ahead and laugh, I was only trying to cook a quick lunch for you, no thanks necessary."

Tenten couldn't hold in her mirth anymore and fell to the floor, clutching her sides as she laughed with all her might. After two full minutes of laughing she picked herself up and giggled her way to the kitchen. What she saw were three different pots, each with something inedible burnt in them. One even looked like Neji had attempted to make cereal in the pot only for it to turn into a black mush. She laughed even harder at that.

"Well -ha ha- at least you -ha- tried to make lunch." she said in between fits of giggles.

Neji grumbled and headed to the sink, putting his burnt hand under the soft stream of cold water while Tenten turned off the fire on her stove. Neji took off the apron and moved to sit down at the table while Tenten got to work scraping off the burnt food and cleaning her pots. When she finished she went into her bathroom and grabbed her first aid kit and sat across from Neji who was eyeing the box.

"Give me your hand" She told him, pulling out some minor burn ointment.

"No, ah, it's not that bad. I'm fine."

Tenten gave him a tired look and grabbed his hand before he could pull it away. He tried to fight Tenten for it but one look from her made him stop cold.

"Good, now we're getting somewhere." Tenten laid Neji's hand down and uncapped the ointment.

"Can you just get it over with?" Neji asked, trying his best to sound impatient instead of nervous.

Tenten grinned and gave Neji an amused grin. "Why, is the widdle Hyuga afwaid of some medicine?" Neji blushed and glared at Tenten who laughed it off. She scooped some ointment and lightly began to dab it on Neji's hand, working it until it was a clear gel.

"There, all done. Now isn't that better?" Tenten asked after bandaging the hand.

Neji grumbled a thanks and rubbed his hand.

"So why were you cooking for me anyways Neji?"

Neji's face turned red and he looked away from Tenten. "Just as an apology, no more. I acted in an inappropriate manner earlier and so wish to say I'm sorry." He droned out as if he had practiced what to say. (which he had)

Tenten blushed and tried to change the subject. "Well thank you, but I wouldn't have eaten anyway. I had a meeting earlier that I missed and decided to grab lunch with…a friend."

"A friend?" Neji asked, not missing the hesitation in Tenten's answer. "Who? I thought Lee was still in the hospital."

Again Tenten felt a sudden need to change topics. "Ah, did you know that you're cousin is crazy?"

Thankfully it worked. "Hinata? Why do you say that?"

Tenten sighed in relief and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, as I was trying to go to my meeting I was attacked by her out of the blue. It's her reason I was late to my meeting in the first place."

"But you are one of her only friends, why would she attack you?"

Tenten shook her heads as if lost for words. "I don't know, she was just spouting off some nonsense that I couldn't even make out. Now that I think about it she might have been drunk." Tenten added.

Neji looked over at Tenten bewildered and thought over this new development. He could only think of one reason why Hinata would attack Tenten, and he knew that, if pushed to it, Hinata would act to ensure nothing was in her way. That must mean that Tenten was with Naruto again and Hinata saw it.

"Tenten…what is your relationship with Naruto Uzumaki?" Neji suddenly asked, straight face and all.

Tenten blinked in surprise before shouting. "What?"

* * *

><p>"Alright whiskers, you've been in there for ten minutes, you must be done by now so come out." Ino crossed her arms as Naruto whined from behind the curtain.<p>

"No, it looks stupid, just hand me something new."

Ino furrowed her eyebrows in frustration and growled. "Naruto, come out now or so help me I'll go in there and drag you out even if you're butt ass naked. Remember, shame is good when shopping. Shame tells you that you need to try on something else. So come out and be ashamed like a man!"

Naruto glared at the curtain since he couldn't glare at Ino. "Ino let me tell you something. I feel no shame. It is impossible for me. In my body, where the shame gland should be, there's a second awesome gland."

Ino stared at the curtain for a few seconds before she broke out into laughter at the stupid joke. "Naruto, just get out here." She said through the laughs.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." Naruto grumbled some more before pulling back the curtain and stepping in front of Ino. He was dressed in a high collared one piece gray outfit with no sleeves and the pants portion of the outfit being cut off at the knee. I was visibly divided by an oversized weapons pouch that acted like a belt. Naruto also had a few accessories Ino helped him pick out for him. He wore a pair of forearm protectors and shin guards and his Hitai-ate was attached to his left bicep.

"You look great!" Ino said at the scowling Naruto. "What don't you like about it?"

"Well for one thing it has absolutely no orange! I can't even…agh! And besides not having orange, what's with the weapons pouch?"

"You can keep a lot more weapons on you now." Ino said impassively.

Ignoring the response Naruto just went on. "That's not even the biggest issue though! The worst thing about this damn thing is that it looks like something Sasuke would wear! It even has the abnormally high gravity defying collar!"

Ino huffed and glared at Naruto. "Well sorry, I'm not used to shopping for boys you know. The least you could do is cut me some slack, I'm trying my best."

Naruto sighed and palmed his face. She was right of course He shouldn't be so harsh with her. "I'm sorry Ino I didn't mean to yell at you. This stuff just isn't what I'm used to okay?"

Ino sighed and nodded her head. " I get it. We'll just have to keep looking I guess."

"Heh, at least this one was better than the last outfit you picked. It was basically civilian clothing."

"Well that was just to get some laughs Naruto. Go back in and undress while I get something new for you."

Naruto nodded and pulled the curtain around again. He looked down at his current clothes and grabbed his orange jacket. He wished he could keep wearing it but the more he moved around in it the more the seam in the arms broke. He cursed Sasuke for destroying this jacket. His trademark look, the jacket old man Hokage had given him. Naruto's eyes saddened at the memory and he placed his hand on the center of the jacket. Just then he heard Ino calling his name.

"Naruto here, I think you'll like this. Oh and hand me your jacket." She said as she dropped the clothes onto the floor and extended her arm inside of the curtain. Naruto picked the clothes up and eyed her hand.

"Why do you want the jacket?" He asked warily.

Ino huffed, closing and opening her hand. "please just trust me Naruto. I promise nothing bad will happen." Naruto stared at his jacket longingly then handed it to Ino. Ino rushed away and Naruto just stared straight at the curtain for some time. Finally he broke out of his stupor and began to change out of his one piece and into the clothes Ino had given him. He stared at the pants then smiled, pulling them on. They were mostly a dark orange color with lots of red cargo pockets all along them along with two red straps that hung at the sides. It widened out as it went down his leg but once it hit mid shin it began to close off leaving only his ankles bare. It was lightweight and flexible enough for him to move however he wanted and best of all it was orange. These were definitely a keeper.

Next Naruto pulled on a long sleeved sweat shirt. It was black and had a dark blue flame pattern going from the bottom, up his sides, and down the length of his sleeves. The material was very light weight and breathable which made Naruto wonder why it was long sleeved until he saw the tag say that it was a chakra shirt. Grinning, Naruto channeled chakra into the shirt and it instantly became much harder. He raised his left arm and sliced it with a kunai grabbed from his pouch, however when he investigated the cut he found that there was no tear in the material and his body didn't get a scratch. He had felt the pressure of the knife but no steel had touch his body.

"Wow." He moved his arms around a bit and checked his movements by doing a basic taijutsu stance. He waved his arms in circles, punched the air rapidly, he even tested it out without chakra flowing through it to ensure the even when the shirt was slack it wouldn't snag or tear. Content with the shirt Naruto smile brightly and decided to thank Ino profusely.

"Naruto, are you still in there? You didn't ditch me did you?"

Naruto smiled and walked out of the changing booth. "No, of course not, I was just getting used to this."

When Naruto came out Ino looked him over with an astonished gaze before whistling in appreciation. "Damn! I am good!" she announced grinning. Naruto noticed that she was hiding something behind her back and tried to peer over her shoulder.

"Hey, what is that Ino?" Naruto asked. Ino backed away with a smile.

"Well you were telling me how much you would miss your jacket the Hokage got you and that you wished there was some way you could still keep it around so…I kinda got an idea about that. Here." Ino then pulled something folded up and orange from behind her back and presented it to Naruto blushing a little. Slowly, Naruto grabbed it and lifted it up.

It unfolded and immediately Naruto was torn with how to feel. One part of Naruto felt incredible relief, another felt like crying out in joy to the heavens, and another still wanted to hug Ino for such an incredible gift. Naruto stared at what had been his jacket. It was now sleeveless, cutting off just past the shoulder and expertly sewn together, the left shoulder even had his swirl patch placed and secured on it. What had first been light blue stripes had been transformed into a dirty dark blue color by Sasuke's fireball had now been retransformed into a nice solid deep blue color that looked amazing. The orange color, which had turned burnt orange due to aforementioned fireball, had also been fixed making it seem a more natural jacket color as well as having no noticeable burn marks on the clothing. Naruto hesitantly put it on over his current clothes and turned to look at himself in the mirror. He had noticed that among other things, he had a new zipper, but the way it looked open had him astonished. He looked awesome.

Ino came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Well what do you think Naruto?" She asked.

Naruto smiled and before he could really think on it he hugged Ino. Ino stood stock still, shocked at Naruto's actions then eased into the hug.

"Thank you Ino. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me." Naruto said, his voice cracking a bit clueing Ino in on just how sincere he was being.

Ino smiled to herself and eased out of the hug before gathering three extra sets of Naruto's outfit while he folded up the clothes he had worn into the store. As they started to make their way to the counter Naruto paused and turned to Ino.

"Ino, how'd you turn my jacket into this vest?"

"Well I know this store really well cause one of my mom's friends is a seamstress here. This place rarely orders clothes, they prefer to make them here. So I just took the jacket to her and she was more than happy to help."

Nodding at having his question answered, Naruto thought for a moment before speaking again. "Hey, this vest, you know, it's really great and stuff so…I wanna pay you back a bit. Do you want something from here? I'll pay."

Ino stopped and a grin spread over her face. "Wait here, I found the cutest outfit while looking for yours."

She handed Naruto his clothes before dashing off around then store as a purple blur. Twenty seconds later Ino was standing in front of Naruto again in a new outfit. She was wearing long black spandex pants not unlike Sakura's that stopped just below the middle of her shin. Over that she wore a new purple skirt, the front of which reaching her knees, the back extending down her whole leg to her ankles, and the sides split open from just below the waist. She had what appeared to be a long sleeved version of her purple tank top over which she had a slightly darker purple vest with a hood that seemed to be made of the same material as Naruto's chakra shirt. To finish off the new look she had on a pair of black fingerless gloves. Naruto whistled in awe.

"That was fast! How'd you do that?"

"Practice." She said with a smile. "Cool huh? I've been hearing about a few of the others in our year starting to take being a ninja more seriously so I need to start working too, and these new clothes should help emphasize that."

Naruto rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Right. You just wanted some new clothes." He said, not really buying what he was hearing.

Ino only stuck out her tongue before grabbing three more pairs of her outfit before looking at the whole pile of clothes uncertainly.

"Hey, are you sure you can afford all of this? I guess I could buy my stuff later if not."

Naruto shook his head and reached into his new vest for Gama-chan. "I'm completely sure. Ero-sennin made sure to pay me back all my money after finding Baa-chan, and besides I've got more than enough money with the Shinobi discount."

When the two reached the register the cashier looked at them with a harsh glare. He rung them up and gave them their total. "571 Ryo is your total, how will you be paying, cash or check?"

"What? There's no way that it can be that much!" Naruto shouted. "What about our Shinobi 30 percent discount?"

"It's there for _her_ clothes, but as for you, I would sooner commit suicide than acknowledge you as a Shinobi!" The man then spat on Naruto's face only for Ino to slap in disgust.

"How dare you? He's a Shinobi who deserves your respect like any other! You can't treat him like this!"

"I can and I will girlie! I don't see anyone here telling me otherwise." The man said smugly.

"B-but still, even without the discount you more than doubled the price of his stuff. It should be more like 240 Ryo!" Ino tried to reason.

"Listen here, it's my shop, I make the rules, and if I want to charge him so much then it's my business got it?" The man shouted. Naruto growled and stepped infront of Ino.

"Hey don't yell at her like that! If you're going to yell at someone yell at me! Leave her out of this!" The man was quick to comply with Naruto's demands and soon the two were arguing, calling each other names, and starting to get ready to fight. As they were arguing Ino slipped into the back, and a few minutes later came out with a force of seamstresses behind her.

"What's going on here?" The woman that was directly behind Ino shouted out. The two males turned to her, one with a look of confusion and the other a look of anger.

"This is none of your business Tsubame, go back to work."

"I don't think so. According to this young lady not only are you refusing proper respect towards a Shinobi, who would protect you with his life might I add, but you are grossly overcharging him as well."

"I said this doesn't concern you! Now go back to your workstations or else!" The owner shouted at her, his patience all but gone.

"No, you listen or else!" Tsubame snarled at the man, marching up to him and jabbing his chest with her finger. "We refuse to work in a place that bully's children, no matter what you may think they are! So here's how it's going to go. You _will_ apologize to these kids, and _yes _especially to the boy. You _will_ give them a very generous 70 percent discount for your harassment towards them, and you will _never_ bother them again should they even choose to return, otherwise the others and I will leave and make you penniless."

"You're bluffing. You'd be out of a job."

"Just try us." Tsubame said dangerously, her eyes narrowed in challenge. They stood that way for three minutes before the man backed off.

"Fine! I'm sorry! Your total is now 74 Ryo. Happy now?" He said stubbornly to Tsubame.

"It's a start. Well that was enough for now girls, let's get back to work. Oh, and Ino, don't forget to tell your mother that card night is at Anzu's house this week okay?"

"Got it!" Ino called back making the symbol for okay. Just as Naruto finished paying Ino grabbed his arm and dragged him and the clothes out of the store. "C'mon whiskers, let's get out of here."

Once they were outside Naruto started hopping around in excitement, while Ino laughed like crazy as she sealed the clothes away. "Ino that was awesome! That…that was…was…awesome! There's no other word for it!"

Ino scratched her chin, grinning all the while. "Heh heh, yeah I was pretty awesome, but awesome stuff always happens around Ino Yamanaka."

"Man, I never got such a great deal! I'm gonna go test these new clothes out right now! Wanna come?" Naruto asked the blond girl hopefully. Ino paused and began thinking it over.

"Training? I don't know…well…s-" Suddenly a loud bellow was heard throughout Konoha, shocking the two blonds.

"NARUTO!" The voice cried, sending a chill down said boys spine in pure terror.

"Oh shit! No! It's…its…"

* * *

><p>"What's your relationship with Naruto Uzumaki?" Neji repeated once Tenten righted herself back into her chair. She had fallen backwards in shock.<p>

"W-w-what are you talking about Neji? Nothing's going on between me and Naruto." She said shakily.

Tenten's left foot began to fidget and Neji took careful notice. "Are you sure Tenten?" He asked.

"Of course! Why would I be doing something with him?" She said halfheartedly trying to defend herself.

"I see…so you are not dating him?" Neji asked levelly

Tenten nearly fell ouot of her seat again. The question was just so unexpected and strange she would have never in a million years have considered Neji asking that question.

"Because," Neji continued, "I was out last night with Hinata-sama and we saw you and the Uzumaki eating some ramen together. Out of sheer coincidence as we were passing by we heard him say you two were on a date."

"What? That's what this is about? Neji yes Naruto and I were eating together and yes he said it was a date but-"

"I want you to sop seeing him" Neji interrupted smoothly.

"You have to understand that we…what? What did you just say?"

"I said I would like for you to stay away from Naruto Uzumaki." Neji said with an impassive tone.

Tenten stared at Neji for a long moment trying to discern the reason for his request, and after a while just chalked it up to him not liking Naruto. She thought it over and decided that if Neji and Naruto didn't get along there was nothing she could do about it. Deciding that she would rather be on Neji's good side, Tenten was about to agree when a memory suddenly passed through her mind.

_Naruto, holding his sandwich to his mouth and looking at Tenten before putting it down and smiling at her. Him saying "This is nice Tenten, I've never done this before. I've never just sat down and had lunch with a friend. Thank you."_

Tenten blinked and shook her head, now was not the time to be second guessing between her friends and the boy she wanted to be with. Yet, the memories just kept coming.

"_Years!" Naruto cried out before breaking down and sobbing into his hands. Tenten teared up and moved closer. She grabbed Naruto and pulled him into a hug where he collapsed and started to cry in her stomach. She cried with him, all the while squeezing him as tight as she could._

Tenten stared forward at Neji who was beginning to lose his patience with the girl.

"Well?" He asked annoyed.

Tenten's eye's shifted a bit and a new memory emerged.

"_It's fangirls like you that give real Kunoichi like me a bad name! Tenten yelled at Sakura._

Tenten looked herself over before looking back down to the table. "No." She said quietly.

"I'm sorry?" Neji asked taken back by the response.

_Naruto dragging Tenten through the streets of Konoha with a wide grin on his face as she laughed feeling excited._

"I said no." Tenten said more firmly.

"_Naruto be quiet. Your my friend, I'm not ashamed of you or something." Tenten said._

"Why not? Tenten, he's an annoyingly loud, obnoxious person. Why won't you stay away from him?"

"_You're good people Tenten, and I hope we could be friends." Naruto said smiling at Tenten in his battered and bandaged form. _

"Because he's my friend. I'm not going to abandon him too Neji." Tenten said, her eyes fierce.

Neji blinked in surprise then sneered. "Ah, so that's how it is. You're not dating him, you're simply hanging around him out of pity. Good. That's how people like him should be treated."

"I do not pity Naruto!" Tenten yelled, rising up from her chair. "Besides, what do you care? So what if I were dating him?"

Neji flustered at Tenten's reaction and hastily came up with an excuse. "W-well that Uzumaki is very strange and I don't fully trust him around you. He could overpower you and do something if he wanted to. I'm trying to look out for you."

"Well I don't need protection Neji, I can handle myself just fine. You should know that." Tenten said calming down a bit. She was angry with the Hyuga but at least he seemed to want the best for her.

"You're right." Neji said nodding his head. I shouldn't have underestimated you. You're _my_ teammate after all. It's not like such trash as him could do anything anyway." Neji said with a sneer towards Tenten.

"So he's trash now?" Tenten asked, her anger rising again.

"No, he's worse than trash. He's a hot headed, idiotic, pathetic, piece of garbage who has no business with anyone, especially you."

Tenten's anger at the dark haired boy became larger than she ever thought possible. How dare he talk that way about someone, let alone Naruto. He knew nothing about her new friend, nothing about the pain and suffering he went through. Neji's life might as well have been a festival when compared to Naruto.

"Get the hell out of my home Neji!" Tenten snarled, her womanly anger getting the best of her.

"W-what?" Neji said in surprise at the fury behind Tenten's words. Never before had he heard her speak like that to him and it unnerved the Hyuga quite a bit.

Tenten moved around her table and grabbed hold of Neji's chair before she pulled it right out from under him. Neji fell flat on his ass in surprise at the abrupt show of disrespect towards him. He rose up in anger and turned towards Tenten ready to put her in her place but was met with a pair of the fiercest eyes he had ever seen seething with nothing but hatred for him at the moment.

"I will not stand for you insulting Naruto in my home! So get the hell out of here before I force you out that door with a dozen kunai in your ass. I don't care where you go or what you do so long as you just leave here now!"

"Tenten get ahold of yourself! You're yelling like a maniac over that stupid-"

"Don't you dare finish that thought!" Tenten roared in warning. "You will stop degrading him this instant! He is one of the best people I know and he's gone through a hell of a lot more than you can even imagine! You see yourself as some tragic hero that has all this justified hate, but you are so wrong. If anything he should hate everyone more than you hate your clan from all that he's gone through but he just keeps fighting on!"

"And don't think for a second that I'm pitying him! If anything I should pity you! Or have you so conveniently forgotten that that 'piece of trash' handed your ass to you. With a speech might I add!"

Neji's eyes were widened in surprise and anger. He turned to leave, gaining a satisfied grunt from Tenten, but as he opened the door he paused, turning towards the girl.

"You're deluding yourself and him by acting this way. In the end he'll just be hurt by your eventual departure and you'll just return to normal. It is simply your fate, I was just trying to speed it up. You should just hurry up and get this over with."

Tenten kicked Neji's ass, pushing him out of her door way and slammed the door right on him, making him yelp in pain. "Gah! You crazy girl!" He shouted, without thinking due to the pain in his rear.

The door immediately opened and Neji felt a chill go down his spine that should never be made fun of. It was the chill every man gets when he realizes he just said something so damaging to his health. The chill where he knows that a particular woman is going to get you, take away your man hood, then slowly kill you if you don't run as fast as you can. Without a moment to lose Neji leaped over the railing in front of Tenten's door and high tailed it out of there, being able to dodge the sharp metal objects of death thrown at him purely by instinct.

* * *

><p>If one were to ask you to describe Ayame Ichiraku, you would likely say that she was a sweet, thoughtful, caring, smart, and all around nice young woman. And you would be right. However, at this moment Ayame is none of those things. No. She is a pissed off bundle of nervousness.<p>

The reason is because Ayame just learned something very disheartening. It started with Ayame noticing that Naruto hadn't come in for lunch that day. She asked her father if he knew anything about it only to find that her father knew nothing. She was then shocked as her father began telling her news of how last night while she was at home studying for a big test she was having this morning for school Naruto had come in with a girl. On a date.

Ayame was flabbergasted. Naruto, sweet, lovable, always putting other before himself Naruto had gotten a date. Some girl had actually let _her_ Naruto take her out on a date, to her family's ramen bar no less, and she couldn't even be there to size the girl up!

Ayame had had a crush on Naruto for years now. They had practically grown up together, the boy being only a year younger than her, and had shared so many memories. She was proud to call herself his first friend, his first hug, his first listening ear, his first partner in crime, and even his first kiss. (Though of course they (well he) dismissed it as just the two of them being kids and not really knowing the significance of the act) She could still remember the day that she first started to like the boy.

_Naruto and Ayame were just hanging around the ramen bar as was their routine. Teuchi had left the bar earlier to supervise one of his students who was attempting to join one of Konoha's most illustrious restaurants, leaving the seven and eight year old alone. _

"_I'm hungry." Naruto suddenly said, looking away from his drawing toward the girl on his right. Ayame looked up from her own work of art (a cute field of animals with Naruto for eyes) and turned towards the boy._

"_So…" Ayame said, not really knowing how to respond to that statement._

_Naruto slumped forward until his whole upper body was lying flat against the counter. "So I'm hungry. Do you think you could make me some ramen?" He asked, figuring that if her dad could make awesome ramen then surely his daughter could as well._

_Ayame however turned bright red and looked down. She was really nervous. She'd tried to cook ramen several times before, her dad trying to teach her about the family business and all, but she always messed it up. She was nowhere near a good cook, and everyone knew it. (Or at least the kids in her school knew it. Whenever they had a cooking project everyone would stay away from Ayame's food as it had accidently caused one boy to end up with a severe case of the runs. Thus she got the nick name "Icky Ayame")_

"_I-I don't know Naruto. I think you should wait for my daddy to get here." She said hoping that the boy would agree._

"_But that could take forever~." Naruto groaned. "Can't you please cook me something Ayame-chan? Please?" The boy begged on his knees. _

_Ayame could only turn redder in the face but after several attempts to dissuade the blond from her cooking, none of which succeeded, she finally relented and went behind the counter to the kitchen. She set up everything just like how her daddy had taught her, getting a stool and placing it right in front of the stove and counter so she could reach everything. Fifteen minutes later Ayame was staring at a dark and disgusting looking miso ramen. She tasted the ramen to see if it was any good and immediately felt like throwing up. Frowning in distress over having failed at making ramen again (after all she was only eight years old) Ayame turned toward the counter where Naruto was smiling happily at her, enjoying how she looked as she worked. _

"_N-Naruto, I don't think you'd want this. We should just wait for my dad to get back." She said sadly, trying to move the pot she made the ramen in over to the sink._

_Naruto wasn't having any of that though. "Ayame-chan, I'm really hungry. Like REALLY hungry. Please, can I just have that ramen you made?"_

_Ayame swallowed in nervousness and looked at Naruto before looking back at her mess of ramen and shaking her head. "No, you don't want this Naruto. It's nothing but trash." She was about to throw it out when Naruto hopped over the counter and grabbed the pot out of her hands. Ayame shrieked as she lost her balance and nearly fell off her stool but Naruto was easily able to set her standing straight. As Ayame regained her balance she saw Naruto lift the pot of ramen to his mouth._

"_No Naruto, don't eat that!" She cried out, but it was too late. The blond boy gulped down a mouthful of broth and noodles before his eyes widened. He lowered the pot and started choking in disgust at the foul taste of the ramen. Ayame only watched in slight horror as her friend seemed to be dying from her food._

"_Oh man!" Naruto shouted suddenly, shaking his head and turning to Ayame. "Ayame chan, I'm sorry, but that ramen taste nasty!" He said, shaking his head again as a shiver went down his spine._

_Ayame frowned at her friends words and looked down in embarrassment and shame. She knew that he wouldn't like it, but she still hoped that he would at least be gentle with his words. She nearly started to tear up when she heard the distinct sound of slurping again. Startled, she looked up and saw Naruto as he started chugging down the nasty ramen again._

"_Naruto what are you doing? That ramen's garbage, let me throw it out!" She said, hopping off the stool and heading towards Naruto. _

_Naruto moved away from her though and lowered the pot again with a shiver at the nastiness. Naruto shook his head and smiled at Ayame, stunning her a bit. "No way Ayame-chan! There's no way that this is going into the garbage, no matter how nasty it tastes. You made this ramen for me, and no one else has ever done something like that for me before so I'm going to finish it no matter what!" And to emphasize his point he downed the rest of the ramen in one big gulp. _

_Ayame couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight of Naruto finishing off her horrible ramen. She was absolutely touched by the boys commitment to her that he would willingly eat her cooking. Even when he fell to the floor clutching his stomach, he did so with a smile and a few laughs. Ayame rushed and grabbed him a glass of water that he gratefully drank down._

"_You dummy, you should have just thrown it out." She said as Naruto groaned in pain. He laughed at her comment however._

"_Never Ayame-chan. So long as you make it I will always eat your food." At that moment Naruto's stomach chose to make a horribly painful sound and Naruto clutched his stomach harder. "Although, I wouldn't mind if the food started tasting a bit better you know?" He said, chuckling a bit. Ayame only smiled at him and hugged him before joining in with his laughter. And at that moment she knew that Naruto was something special to her._

"_Sure baka. Sure."_

She knew, even back then, that Naruto was special, that he was an irreplaceable part of her life, and that she wanted him all to herself. Unfortunately for her however, that year when Naruto went back to the ninja academy he switched classes and ended up meeting _her_. Sakura was Ayame's biggest challenge ever as Naruto had fallen head over heels for her, or at least fallen as hard as a seven year old can. Either way before she knew it all Naruto wouold talk about was Sakura-chan this and ninja stuff that. He became more busy and started having less time to hang around and play with her (they would occasionally skip class together though) and before she knew it the only times she would see Naruto was when he came in for his daily lunch or if she was lucky, dinner. She missed Naruto terribly and though she would act as pleasant as she could around him she could never bring herself to openly talk to him about her feelings.

And look where that got her. Some other girl had come by and gotten to Naruto. And it wasn't even Haruno or that Hyuga chick! It was this no name, come out of nowhere girl named Tenten. And worse yet, it didn't seem to have been just a one night date thing. From the rumors she had started to hear it sounded like those two were in some sort of serious relationship!

Ayame was heartbroken. But she couldn't just do nothing anymore. She'd loved Naruto for the longest time. She knew him best. She had spent the most time with him. Hell, she was his freaking childhood friend, and everyone knew that in romance's the childhood friend always became something more! All these years she had a leg up on any competition, and she would have been able to make Naruto hers easily. Now she was in last place. Well no more. From that day forward Ayame Ichiraku was putting her name in the race for the love of Naruto Uzumaki.

"Just you wait Naruto-Kun. I'll show you that I deserve to be with you the most." She said, just out of the range of her father's hearing. "And this ramen will be the start of it." She carefully put the finishing touches onto her ramen and smiled in pride. Her deluxe "Love potion" ramen was sure to bridge the gap that had appeared between her and Naruto and start them on the right path towards marria-ahem she meant relationship. Now all she needed was to add just a _little_ bit of the secret ingredient. She grabbed the nearby bowl with a nicely ground powder in it and grabbed just a pinch, raising it above the ramen.

"NARUTO!" She suddenly heard a voice bellow, scaring her and causing her to drop the whole bowl of powder into the pot of ramen she was making. Her eyes widened and she cried out in worry as she saw the ramen turn a sickly pale color.

"No, now it's ruined!" She cried before slumping her head and pouring the ramen broth down the sink, the noodles going into the trash. As she silently started to try and make a new batch she silently prayed that whoever it was that shouted out Naruto's name and caused her to mess up her ramen would suffer, and suffer dearly.

* * *

><p>Neji was finally able to get away from Tenten in the Konoha Market Square. He sighed and recomposed himself into the proper image that a Hyuga should have. He began making his way back home when he noticed many people turning to look at him and others who were pointing him out to their friends.<p>

'Good.' He thought as he walked. 'This is how the Hyuga should be seen, with everyone in awe of us and our-"Eww!"-greatne…huh?' "Look, there's one of those Hyuga. Let's go away."

Neji stopped in his tracks and looked over at those who were talking.

"Yeah, lets. I still can't believe it about them. I would have never thought that their clans heiress would be like that."

'So this has to do with Hinata. Why am I not surprised?'

"Hey! What are you saying about the Hyuga?" Neji called at the two women. The froze in fear and turned to Neji.

"N-n-nothing at all." The braver of the two said.

"No.: Neji said menacingly. "You said something about our heiress. What was it?"

"W-w-well ha-haven't you heard? S-she wanted that Uzumaki kid and began attacking this Kunoichi who Uzumaki was in love with. It was a supposedly fierce battle over the love of the boy but just as the heiress committed a dirty trick and was about to strike down the Kunoichi, Uzumaki rushed in and saved his beloved." The first woman said.

"Then he made this grand speech about how he would die for his friends and all this stuff about precious people, and that she had no claim to him. The heiress broke down in defeat after hearing that and Uzumaki decided that his beloved would be much safer if he wasn't in her life, so he ran off in an attempt to distance herself from him, but she didn't care about the danger because she loved him so much and so chased after him." The second woman continued.

Then both women started talking in unison slightly creeping Neji out. "From what we've heard they were last seen by a Shinobi that was following them. They were on this rooftop in each other's embrace as they cried together. It's just so romantic isn't it?" They finished.

Neji blinked and his face began to twitch. Naruto. Saved Tenten? He saved her from Hinata? Tenten and Naruto cried together as they were holding each other? Naruto loved Tenten? TENTEN **LOVED** NARUTO?

A feral growl escaped Neji's lips as he ran in search of the blond haired boy in order to beat his ass. He ran insead into his spandex wearing sensei.

"Neji? Why are you running around with such an unyouthful face?" Gai asked.

Neji, who was not in the mood, quickly side stepped him and continued to run over, calling over his shoulder to Gai. "Why don't you ask around about Tenten?"

Confused as to why his pupil would act in such a way Gai asked the next person he met if they had any youthful news about his female student. The story he heard sent him into a joyous frenzy. Oh hurray, for Tenten has found a most youth filled person whom she can be happy with. He must congratulate the boy!

And so he bellowed to the clouds for the whole village to hear him and his joy directed at the youthful boy. "NARUTO!"

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the show! So, what do you think? Good right? Right? Anyways I just want to once again emphasize that no character bashing is going on whatsoever. None. Everyone is doing somehting for a reason. And YAY! I broke the double digit mark for reviews! Next up is triple digits, though admitedly that is definately a far way off. Again I hope you all like it and please leave a review, I really like it when I get one. Thank you and so long!<strong>


	4. Running, Fighting, Yelling, Plotting

**AN: Well I'm back again, one day shy of two months since the last time I published a chapter. I'm really happy with how this one came out, and it's my longest one yet at just over 10,000 words! I cant believe I reached five digits! I've been working on this since I finished college about two weeks ago, and let me tell you I am just so excited for you all to read it! So without further ado I present to you all chapter four. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any manga associated with Shonen Jump. I do however own online subscriptions to Shonen Jump Alpha. I'll miss you Shonen Jump Magazine! I'll never forget the fun times we had and the years we spent together!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Running, Fighting, Yelling, Plotting<strong>

"It's Gai!" Naruto cried out causing Ino to turn and look at the now frantic boy.

"What's the big deal? Sure he's eccentric, but I heard Gai-sensei was a nice person. Why are you freaking out?"

Naruto turned to Ino and started waving his arms erratically. "You don't understand! He's too nice! I once asked him if we could train together. I ended up puking to within an inch of my life! On the _warm-up_! He's tried dragging me to every training session since! We need to go now before he finds me!"

"Naruto don't you think you're overreacting?" Ino said placing her hands on her hips.

Naruto looked at her incredulously. "Overreacting?" He spun around and looked for a Shinobi. Spotting one he yelled towards him. "Hey! You on the roof! Gai-sensei sent me to find you! He wants to train with you!"

The Shinobi immediately shrieked in horror and ran for his life in the opposite direction yelling back at Naruto. "No! Please never again! No! Someone protect me, I can't see that monster again! I don't want to die! MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMY!" Naruto then turned back towards Ino who was slack jawed.

"Now do you think I was overreacting?" Naruto asked and Ino shook her head. "C'mon we need to go before he fi-"

"Aha! There you are!" Gai screamed, shocking the blonds. Naruto and Ino didn't hear the exclamation. They _felt _it. The blonds made out a dust cloud about ten blocks down (Gai apparently has good eyesight. Though he must be colorblind) before as one they screamed and started running away from it as fast as they could. They rounded every corner the came across, went through every alley they found, and went over every barricade they could in hopes of losing the man.

"Hey." Naruto panted out as he and Ino rounded another corner.

"What?" Ino asked nearly out of breath from running at her top speed for over five minutes.

"Isn't Gai-sensei supposed to be like…really fast?" He asked between breaths.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Ino yelled, not having any patience left.

"It's just that he's faster than bushy brows right? Neither of us is faster than him, and he would have reached us a long time ago. So how has Gai not caught us?"

Ino blinked and the blonds looked at each other. With a nod they spun around and skid to a stop. No one was chasing them anymore. Ino dropped to her knees in relief and exhaustion.

"Oh thank Kami. I didn't know for how much longer I could have run." She groaned as she rubbed her now sore legs.

Naruto chuckled a bit before sighing and looking towards the sky in relief. "Yeah, I can't believe we actually lost hi-" Naruto cut himself off as a large shadow leaped off a roof and blocked out the sun.

"Naruto!" The shadow—Gai—shouted causing Naruto to nearly shit his new shorts in fear.

Swiftly and in one fluid motion, Naruto leaped towards Ino, grabbed her, rolled them over onto his feet, made sure Ino was secured in his arms (bridal style) and sped off down the street.

This all happened too fast for Ino to process though. "Naruto, what the fu-" She started yelling before hearing the ground cracking behind them. Turning she saw Gai rise onto his feet from his poor landing and takeoff running after them. "Oh shit! Go faster!" She screamed in terror.

Naruto pounded his feet one in front of the other as fast as he could before inspiration struck him. He flipped Ino onto his back and made a hand sign.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A gigantic cloud of smoke erupted in the crowded street the blonds had fled to, engulfing the masses and hiding the two. Then as the clouds began to fade, dozens upon dozens of Naruto's and Ino's jumped out and started to run around in all types of different directions. The jutsu had the intended effect of Gai stopping dead in confusion.

"Run away!" A Naruto shouted as if a battle cry before all the Ino's hopped onto a Naruto and the duos started to jump off into the streets of Konoha. Gai's stupefied expression went away, replaced by a grin of challenge and a hearty laugh.

"Ha ha ha! Alright! A most youthful chase to find the one who's stolen Tenten's heart. Let us go!"

Suddenly Gai disappeared and three clone teams poofed away. Gai continued to attack the legion of clones with his super speed and miniscule injections of chakra making them explode harmlessly.

Naruto and Ino were long gone by then however. As the blonds were hidden in the cloud of smoke that resulted from the Kage Bunshin, he and Ino had transformed themselves to look like innocent ninja's that were just going on their own way. Once they were at a safe distance (read: the other side of the village) the two slumped down onto the side of a wall on a building in an empty street. There wasn't a soul in sight, meaning wherever they were, Gai was sure to not look for them here.

Out of curiosity Naruto looked up to see just which building they were at and nearly choked. They were right outside Jiraiya's favorite brothel!

"You okay Naruto?" Ino asked obliviously as Naruto began sweating.

"Y-yeah." Naruto said, thinking furiously. How didn't he recognize the streets? He had to move before the old perv happened to come out. Luckily for him though, Jiraiya's favorite brothel (_PleasureFull_ for anyone who's curious) was just two small blocks down from his nee-chan's job. Ino wouldn't like going there but at least they'd be safe from both Gai and Jiraiya. "C'mon, we've got to move, we're sitting ducks out here. I know a place down the street we could hide out in."

Ino whined and slumped how body more against the wall. "I can't do it Naruto. My legs are like jello."

Naruto looked around for any indication of the white haired perv before kneeling in front of Ino. "Fine, I'll carry you then, I just really want to get out of here."

Ino got red in the face and sat back up with a stern look in her eyes. "No way! I'm not letting you hold me like some sort of pervert!"

"Shh! Quiet down!" Naruto hushed out in fear. "Just get on my back and I'll take you to your home okay?"

Ino pouted for a bit before she decided that she'd prefer to be on her soft bed than the hard ground. Besides she didn't want to risk Gai finding her. Ino shuffled closed to Naruto's back and was about to wrap her arms around him when she heard someone laughing.

"Ho ho ho! Naruto you sly dog! I didn't know you had a girlfriend! And a nice young blond one at that. Oh, I'm so proud of you! It's like you've finally started to take my teachings to heart!" Jiraiya shouted from atop the roof.

"Gah! Ero-sennin!" Naruto cried out falling forward onto his knees.

"Girlfriend? You've got this all wrong mister!" Ino yelled indignantly, red all over her body.

"Oh? Then, pray tell, why are you so red young miss?" Jiraiya asked with a perverted giggle.

"I-I'm tired okay? We just spent ten minutes running away from Gai-sensei!"

This seemed to shock the toad sannin. "Ten minutes? Really? That must be some kind of record. Veteran Shinobi can't usually hide from him for more than three or four minutes. How'd you do it?"

"Kage Bunshin." Naruto supplied, finally recomposing himself.

"Well Gaki, now that you're coherent again, care to introduce me to this fine young woman?"

Naruto immediately glared and threw up his arms in an "X" symbol. "Hell no! You don't need to know a thing about her!" Naruto shouted, barely stopping himself from calling the perverted man a pedophile. Ino was only 12 for kami's sake!

Jiraiya didn't even bat an eye at Naruto's protests. "My, my, well aren't you protective? Maybe you do have a thing for her, hmm?"

Ino and Naruto's face's reddened and Jiraiya fell backwards laughing. Ino finally decided that she had enough. "Hey, whiskers, who is this creep?" She whispered.

"Whiskers!" Jiraiya cried out leaving the blonds to wonder just how acute the old ninja's hearing must be. "You've already given him a pet name! Ha!" His laughter dying down, Jiraiya stood to his full height on the building's roof and looked down towards the two blonds. "As for who I am young lady, I am greatness incarnate. Women want to be with me, men want to be me, my works of literature are known throughout and far beyond the elemental countries, I have been known by many names—most still uttered with fear and awe—I am the brave, gallant, sincere, honorable, humble, amazing ('in bed' Jiraiya mentally added), and all around awesome toad sage of Mt. Myoboku, Jiraiya of the Sannin!"

"More like Ero-baka of the Sannin." Naruto grumbled immediately, not phased in the slightest by the corny introduction. Ino giggled at Naruto's joke, a welcome distraction from the eye burning horribleness of the dance that went along with the introduction. "Nice to see that you got rid of the confetti though Ero-sennin." Naruto said louder causing Jiraiya to frown deeper and Ino to outright laugh.

"Alright then enough playing around I guess. Let's get back on topic shall we? Naruto, why was Gai looking for you?" Jiraiya asked, scratching his nose with his pinky.

"I don't know. He just yelled my name and came running after me. You know how he is; I had no choice but to run."

"Well then, if he's only looking for you, why is she hiding out too?" Jiraiya asked pointing towards Ino.

Ino processed this for a minute before her brain came out with an appropriate answer. "You're right. I just got caught up in everything I guess, the smart thing to do would be to just go." Naruto glanced away, that new feeling of abandonment beginning to creep back in. "But I can't just leave Naruto now while he's in trouble. What kind of a friend would that make me?" Naruto's eyes widened and he turned to look at Ino who was grinning at him with a confident look in her eyes.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and gave Ino a deeper look than before. Despite himself, he had to admit that he was impressed by the blond girl. 'It's not as though she knows anything about the fox, but Naruto doesn't have the best reputation. Plus if that pink haired girl is anything to go on he's not a real charmer, which makes this situation very…interesting.' The toad sannin was just about to reach for his note pad when a new voice stopped him cold.

"Finally found you Uzumaki!" The three people turned as one to look down the empty street at Neji Hyuga. "And you're with the Yamanaka! I knew you were just using Tenten!"

"Wait, what?" Naruto shouted, confused by Neji's words while Jiraiya was hastily looking for his good pen. Ino looked back and forth between the two boys before standing and putting herself in between them. Seeing as how Neji was a good twenty feet away this was a fairly easy thing to do.

"Hold on, what the hell is going on here? Who's using who?"

"Stay out of this Yamanaka this doesn't concern you! This is between me and this…this…filth!"

'Whoa now, that's a bit harsh. Wonder what Naruto did. And I really hope Tenten is a girl otherwise many of my plans for the Gaki will be flushed down the toilet.'

"Hey you can't talk to him like that!" Ino shouted at the Hyuga boy and started to advance on him until Naruto somehow got in front of her and blocked her path.

"It's alright Ino; you don't have to defend me. Neji is just pissed off about something, no big."

"But Naruto-"

"Listen its fine, let me handle this okay?"

More emotions than Naruto could count ran across Ino face before she shouted in frustration and backed off. "Boys." She muttered as she leaned against a wall.

"Good, now I can beat you without interference." Neji said coldly.

"Wait, you said something about me using Tenten earlier, what did that mean?"

"Oh don't start playing into stereotypes now blondy, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You pulled Tenten along in your little game and now I'm going to right that wrong."

"Listen I have no idea what you're talking about but you obviously want to fight. I'll just beat you like last time."

By some unspoken signal Neji and Naruto charged forward and met almost instantly in the middle of the street, fists flying. Naruto punched at Neji's head, barely missing as the Hyuga dodged to the outside, throwing the blond off balance for a critical moment. Neji capitalized and swooped in behind Naruto; however he failed to realize that Naruto purposely overshot the punch so he could twist his body around and kick Neji in the head with the back of his foot. Neji stumbled backwards and grasped at his head, his eyes refocusing on Naruto just in time to see him and a clone rushing forward. Groggily he performed a double palm thrust and was lucky enough to catch them in it only for them to poof into white smoke. Realization struck and Neji turned around in time to so Naruto launch a giant shuriken at him. Neji easily duck underneath it only for it to poof and transform into Naruto who crashed his fist into the back of Neji's head bringing him down onto the floor no doubt with a serious concussion.

"Ha! See, I told you I'd beat you again!" Naruto announced victoriously.

"Don't get cocky Gaki!" Jiraiya called from above, enjoying the show immensely. Naruto was actually fighting smarter against the Hyuga this time around and was winning. There was one big reason for that however.

"Eh? What do you mean Ero-sennin?" Just as Naruto asked though, Neji began to stir on the floor. Groaning the Hyuga shook his head and turned towards Naruto, his Byakugan now active. "Oh."

Neji pushed himself onto his feet, growling towards the blond idiot. As soon as he was completely on his feet, he was gone in a blur. He raced forward and struck all over Naruto's arms and torso. Naruto felt his tenketsu close and several of his muscles tear at Neji's fingertips. Finally he was able to maneuver himself away from the mad Hyuga only to crumple down onto his knees from the extra weight of his now useless upper body. Having no other choice he let out the smallest bit of fox chakra he could to painfully reopen his tenketsu and get him back in the fight. Neji, having recognized the red glow Naruto was beginning to be surrounded by from their last fight didn't give Naruto the time he needed. He closed the gap in a second and smiled as he began to spin.

"Kaiten!" Neji cried out as his chakra rotated and struck Naruto sending him crashing against a wall. Neji came forward for another shot but Naruto quickly got his bearings back and flipped onto the wall he was pressed up against. He backpedaled up the wall to the building's roof and stared down at Neji who didn't want to risk a vertical encounter. Ino was just staring curiously at Naruto's glowing body while Jiraiya was ready to jump in if Naruto lost control.

Seeing Naruto's attempt to buy time Neji decided to rile up the blond idiot. "Fate smiled upon you one time Uzumaki, and it was a false smile. Did you think you beat me with skill? No. It was luck and trickery. Fate knew that me winning then would not have broken your spirit as much as showing you how pathetic you really are by taking that win back. No matter what, you are a loser and will always be a loser that is why I will win this."

"I'm tired of your bullshit!" Naruto shouted as he pumped himself up with more of the fox's chakra giving him a blazing red aura as opposed to the soft glow of before. He shimmered out of existence too fast for Ino or Neji to see, however Jiraiya's eye's tracked the blonds hectic movements as Naruto leaped and bound all around the Hyuga. Neji was a bit confused at first as small dents in the buildings walls were appearing all around him, his Byakugan unable to track Naruto until the last moment when the blond appeared directly behind him, Neji's hair in one hand and a kunai in the other, and a triumphant look in Naruto's eyes. Neji blanched.

"Kai-" Naruto sliced with one swift motion and more than half of Neji's long hair was sliced off, leaving it barely shoulder length. "-ten!" Neji finished too late and Naruto gladly let the force of the blow send him from Neji's immediate strike zone. Almost disbelievingly Neji felt for his hair before he nearly broke down. His wonderful hair, traditionally worn long, was gone. Cut off by Naruto Uzumaki.

"That. Is. It!" Neji seethed, the excess chakra he was putting into his hands making them glow white. Naruto stopped waving the piece of hair he had in his hand mockingly and took a step back.

Neji began to slow spin forward, switching from one foot to the other almost like a ballerina. Suddenly, when he reached halfway to Naruto his spinning increased dramatically and what appeared to be a twister made of chakra was advancing straight towards Naruto.

Naruto and Ino were slightly shocked by the move, but Jiraiya was incredibly impressed. 'The major flaw that the Kaiten has always had was that it's a defensive move. It has the power for a devastating offensive move but lacks the mobility. Neji truly is a genius to have broken off the set path for the Kaiten and mobilize it like this, however I doubt he realizes that there is a reason the Kaiten is taught as a stationary defensive move only. But kids always think they're the first to try something, so he probably doesn't even know how this will blow up in his face. Literally.'

Naruto glared at Neji's incoming attack before breaking into a small mischievous smile. He cracked his fingers and created a clone, his hand extending.

"You want to spin Neji? That's fine with me. I just hope you don't mind when you see my spin on things." A low whirring sound started up as Naruto and his clone focused their chakra. A small rotating ball of death appeared in Naruto's right hand and he smiled as Neji was almost upon him. "C'mon you ass, come get some! Rasengan!"

Jiraiya groaned as he knew what was going to happen. Just as the Rasengan touched Neji's outmost layer of spinning chakra Neji's attack exploded. With Neji's movement, the chakra construct was unstable and exploded at the slightest connection to opposing force. Without the stability of a solid, orb like shape, the rotation of the Kaiten, while powerful is suited for nothing more than Kamikaze warfare. Luckily for Neji his chakra is not yet potent enough to kill, even if detonated.

When both boys were caught in the explosion, their bodies failed them and they went unconscious. Naruto's body got sent high into the air while Neji's body was blasted backwards where he hit the ground making his body bounce down the street before rolling to a stop. As Naruto's body began to arc back down Ino ran forward, hoping to catch the boy before he hit the ground, but just as he was passing the roof of the building a long tongue lashed out and wrapped itself around his body. Ino was shocked and looked right at Jiraiya who was now standing on the toad that had Naruto.

"Hey! Don't eat him!" Ino shouted as she began running up the building.

"Eat him!" Jiraiya shouted indignantly. "I just saved him! The Gaki passed out, and no offense but I doubt even if you braced yourself with chakra that you wouldn't be crushed when you caught him."

Ino stopped and bit her bottom lip before deciding that the old man was right. She then looked over to where Neji was sprawled out on the street. "What should we do with him?" She asked.

"Well we can't just leave him there. We should probably take them over to the hospital. Here, hop on." Jiraiya patted the back of the toad and Ino grudgingly got on. They hopped down to the street and Jiraiya was retrieving Neji just as Gai rounded the street corner.

"Gah! Neji! And Naruto! How could this have happened? Of course! You must be an imposter, the real Master Jiraiya would never harm his or mine own pupil! And what's this? A young Kunoichi obviously on that toad against her will! Villain, I shall show you the wrath of Konoha!" Gai charged at Jiraiya with a "SUPREME YOUTHFUL VENGEANCE OF OVER POWERING YOUTH!" tattoo magically appearing on his forehead. Jiraiya quickly turned and ran back to the toad, barely able to throw Neji on before Gai grabbed Jiraiya's shoulder, pulling him back. Jiraiya kicked Gai away into the other street and turned back to the toad.

"To the hospital! Take the kids there and listen to whatever miss…("Yamanaka.") Yamanaka tells you~!" Jiraiya cried before Gai tackled him to the ground.

Ino watched the bizarre sight for only a few moments before she snapped back to reality and slapped the toad. "Go frog! You heard him, to the hospital!" And with a leap the three were off.

* * *

><p>A tall, breathtaking woman rushed out of her job and ran as fast as she could over towards <em>PleasureFull<em>. She had heard from a coworker that there had been some fights going on there, and someone swore they saw _him _there. When she got onto the scene, whatever fights that might have happened there were already long over. Still she looked around for any sign of the boy, worried out of her mind.

'Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit!' She wailed internally as she spotted some blood on the ground as well as scorch marks from an obvious explosion. 'Why were you fighting here, what could have happened, did you get hurt, where are you now?'

"Hey! Why did you run out so quickly girl? You've barely been working two hours and you can't risk anything right now you know that. Do you want to get fired?" A voice said behind her. Turning around she saw her friend Akari in her work uniform, nearly transparent lingerie. She didn't bat an eye at her friend's lack of concern for being half naked in the open streets, it was still early and these streets didn't start to get busy until night fell.

Sighing she cast one more glance towards the scene of the fight before walking back towards work, Akari right next to her. "It's my Otouto. I heard he was fighting over here and I just had to check. I was worried alright?"

Akari grimaced and shrugged her shoulders. "Listen, I know you worry a lot and never wanted him to be a ninja, but you have to understand that he can take care of himself. Remember when Oto attacked during the Chunin Exams? You couldn't get the day off even though you begged so that you could go support him so you didn't see him fight, but I did. That boy is strong. And I know you'll never stop worrying, but how do you think you'd make him feel if his big sister lost his job because she ran out of work to look for him. You know the boss wants to fire you just because you treat him like a person."

"That damn bastard, if it wasn't so hard to get work I would quit just so I could beat him upside his head." She fumed as they neared their building. "But you are right, despite what I would say he would just blame himself." She slowed down and stopped walking, just staring down at the ground, Akari staring at her. "I just…I barely see him at all anymore. My hours keep me from being the support he needs and he's always going off on missions now. He's started using my first name too whenever he sees me, he's growing up and I'm still stuck in the red light district."

"But you can't blame yourself for that!" Akari exclaimed, gripping her friends shoulder. "Yes, you've missed out on some parts, but he's still growing and you're still there for him more than anyone else! Who's worked away on double shifts for years so that he would have a decent place to live? You! Who has been by his bedside whenever he's been taken to the hospital? You! Who has filled in for every meeting he's ever had with a teacher who was just out to get him? You! Who has taken him away and protected him for every one of his birthdays since he was six? Who the hell changed their own name and even got tattoo's so that you two could feel more like a real brother and sister? You!"

The woman began to cry, rubbing at her eyes and barely controlling her breathing. "Did you know that he's started to call _that man _his big brother figure?" She asked, barely holding in her sudden contempt she was feeling at the mere thought of _that man_.

"Did you know that ever since he became a ninja, he's been putting aside the same amount of money you pay for his bills so that he could give it all back to you? I talked to him, not two months ago. He says he wants to help you now that he's making money too. Says that combined, you could stop having to work here. He misses you, a lot, and tries to lessen the pain by adding more nee-chan's. But it isn't the same. He's never stopped loving you, never stopped hoping and wishing, and he's never once blamed you."

The woman began shaking, tears streaming down her face at this revelation. Akari gently moved forward and hugged her friend as the younger woman practically wailed. After a few minutes she patted her back and started leading her back towards work. "C'mon Naru, we have to hurry back. The girls are covering for us but that doesn't mean we should take too long. Then after work you can go and visit him and have a nice long talk about all this. Does that sound good?"

Gently smiling at the thought of being able to visit her little brother, Naru wiped at her eyes one last time revealing their clear blueness. She nodded vigorously, her sun blond hair that was done in two pigtails waving with the motion. The soft smile turned into a toothy grin, reminiscent of her Otouto's foxy one, causing her whiskered cheeks to puff out a bit. Naru Kamon, big sister to Naruto Uzumaki, could not wait for work to end.

"By the way, I heard some interesting rumors about your brother from the other girls. Wanna hear them?"

* * *

><p>Sakura was exhausted. Not physically, she had hardly done anything at all that day. No she was exhausted emotionally. After having to explain herself to the new Hokage she waited for her new sensei to wake up, and once she did she was immediately thrust into a wild gauntlet of mental exercises and performance reviews to see if she would pass Shizune's sudden standards for an apprentice. After a while Sakura thought she had gotten a reprieve with their break for dinner, but that was interrupted when Shizune was summoned to check on Naruto as she was his primary doctor. Sakura was forced to go along so she can get an in depth look at the work she would be doing soon. Once there however Sakura was surprised to find Ino waiting in Naruto's room. What followed was the chewing out of the lifetime as Ino just blew up in lectures and scoldings and "How dare you!" 's. Honestly, Tsunade was nothing compared to Ino in this rare instance, and Sakura couldn't really handle it. So she fainted.<p>

After waking up, she and Ino had a much calmer talk and the blond girl apologized for wrongfully accusing the girl of something she actually didn't do. She did however say that Sakura was going to have to talk to Naruto and sort things out amongst themselves, that they needed to work it out for their friendship. Sakura hesitantly agreed and before she knew it she was out and on the streets of Konoha, heading to the Yamanaka flower shop to deliver a message for Ino before heading home. She turned a corner and saw across the street from her, a bun haired girl in a pink shirt come out of a convenience store with some groceries.

'Oh no!' Sakura thought worriedly as she tried to blend in with the other night life on the street (impossible to do unless she was at a magical girl convention. Those chicks have some weird hair colors. Rainbow? And I guess a rave isn't out of the question either) and avoid the girl. 'Please, please, I don't want to be yelled at again today. I can't take much more. Please don't see me. Please don't see me. Please don't see me. Please don't see me!'

Sakura hurried down the way she came deciding to take the long way back home. Once she was off of that street she practically bolted away and ran down other streets until she was sure she wouldn't run into Tenten. Sighing at her cowardice, she remembered that she had to deliver Ino's message. With a groan she turned around and screamed as Tenten's face was centimeters away from her own, an angry glare pointed right at her.

"You! You're that girl that left Naruto and alone out there! You pathetic little bitch! How could you do something like that to him?" Sakura took step back from Tenten who looked like she was gearing up for an attack. Then something in her snapped. She was tired of being yelled at. Tired of being in the wrong. Tired of the thought that she hurt Naruto so much. She was tired of running, being weak, and not standing up for herself.

So it came as a great surprise to Tenten when Sakura gained a glint in her eyes and moved forward to meet her glare. "Well What the hell do you know? Nothing! I didn't want to leave him out there alone! I didn't abandon him for Sasuke! Fuck what Sasuke said or what you think or even what Naruto saw! I wanted to help him, I did, but I couldn't! So I went to find someone who could. And yes, I fucked up too because I didn't follow through on that but dammit I'm getting help on that so something like that never happens again! So shut the fuck up, go away, and let me make things right! Got it?"

Tenten was rendered speechless from the pinkettes proclamation and wasn't even able to get another word out before Sakura moved right on past her, raising a finger into the air behind her. "And by the way bitch, I guess I should let you know. Naruto and your teammate are in the hospital right now. Apparently your friend Neji blew the both of them up. Have a fucking great night!"

* * *

><p>Naruto gasped awake and looked around himself wildly. He was able to see another bed and a window along with some chairs. He was able to see the night sky but little else; though from the smell and arrangement of the room he could tell he was back in the hospital. With a sigh, Naruto turned from the window and nearly screamed as he saw a female figure in one of the chairs close to his bed. Eyes wide and a hand clasped over his mouth, Naruto checked over the figure for a moment before visibly relaxing. It was only Ino, knocked out cold on the chair.<p>

Naruto let out breath he didn't even know he was holding before he was struck by a thought. Why had he acted like that at the thought of some girl sleeping close to him? Shaking his head Naruto decided to close his eyes and go back to sleep, thoughts of waking up with his sister waiting by his hospital bed, heading out to Ichiraku's and talking with Ayame again, and maybe when the day was over he'd get to see one of _her_ flowers float down to his window. Then he'd jump on out his window and climb the fire escape up to his rooftop, and he'd say hi, and she'd say hey, then they would both plop onto their backs and look at the stars and talk until they were fighting to stay awake.

Then she would yawn and tell him to close his eyes, and even though he knew what she would do he would close them anyways, an eager smile on his lips. The she'd shuffle around and tell him to look and he'd smile as he saw some left over cake, or some slightly melted ice cream, or any number of sweet treats that she was able to sneak out of her home to share with him.

And they'd spend the rest of their time together in a happy silence before they said their good byes. Then she would sneak down to her third floor bedroom window, and he'd watch to make sure her mom hadn't been waiting up for her drunk as hell. Then when he was sure she was safe in bed he'd climb down back into his own room and sleep whatever was left of the night away.

And with those comforting thoughts he fell asleep to pleasant dreams.

_Naruto was swinging alone after class at the ninja academy, goggles covering his eyes to hide the tears the nine year old was shedding. He had nothing going for him at the moment. Sakura hadn't paid any attention to him, Ayame was on a field trip with her civilian school, Naru didn't have a day off until Saturday (something he was grateful for on said day but whined about when it wasn't) and even the Hokage would be swamped with paper work at this time. There was just no one who he could stave off the loneliness with. _

_Suddenly he heard some wild shuffling and a girl around his age burst out from the bushes directly behind his tree. Naruto blinked at her, confused as to why she looked so scared and out of breath. Then he heard it, that sickly sweet tone of voice that just dripped with hidden intentions. Except this time it wasn't him the voice was calling out for._

"_Oh Kusari…come out come out wherever you are. C'mon, we just want to play. How about we play doctor? I have the scalpels." The girl grew even paler than she was and she started to cry as she looked for somewhere to go. _

_Unable to stand by and do nothing, Naruto hopped off of the swing and grabbed the girls arm, dragging her towards the tree swing. The girl was hyperventilating at this point but Naruto ignored that and began climbing the swings rope one handed, dragging the girl up and onto the tree. They hid in the relative safety of the trees leaves while three mean looking girls came around and looked for the girl sitting next to Naruto. After a while the girls left and the girl began to fidget wildly again, that scared look coming back into her eyes._

"_Hey, are you okay?" Naruto asked the girl, a little freaked out. The girl only looked at him with a frightened expression, and it was then that Naruto actually paid attention to how she looked._

_She was a petite girl, just barely shorter than him, with a pretty face and big purple eyes. She had pink hair, but not the bright pink that his crush had. It was more like a soft, pale pink than anything else, and unlike his crushes straight hair hers was wavy as it framed her face and went a little past her neck. She was wearing a white school uniform like those other three girls showing that she was a student at Konoha's illustrious (and expensive) private academy. Finally she had on a blue neckerchief that she wore around her neck rather than under her collar, which Naruto was surprised to notice, hid several red splotchy bruises. _

"_Who did that to you?" Naruto asked softly, careful to not try and sound accusing. If she had suffered like he thought she had then he knew exactly how being hounded for answers would feel. _

_The girl only gasped and whimpered drawing more into herself in an attempt to hide her bruises. Unfortunately doing this caused her to lose her balance and she slipped off of the tree branch with a scream. Before she even fell completely off the branch Naruto was in motion, throwing himself towards the girl. He reached out and grabbed one of her hands with his left hand and the swing rope with his right, breaking their fall. Grunting he swung his left arm around and let go, making the girl land firmly on the swing. At that moment though the rope snapped from the impact and the girl fell onto her butt as Naruto fell onto his face from about six feet up._

_It took the girl a moment to realize that she was safe on the ground before she looked over towards the boy that saved her. Gasping at the sight of him the girl crawled over on her hands and knees to see if he was still alive. As she reached a hand out, Naruto sprung up off the ground and gripped his nose in pain._

"_Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! It hurts!" He groaned out. The girl who had fallen backwards onto her bottom when Naruto sprung up was now just staring at him in amazement. "Ow~" Naruto moaned before he turned and noticed her. "Oh! Hey you're okay! Awesome, I was worried I wouldn't make it to you in time."_

_The girl gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "You…you were worried about me?" She asked._

_Naruto tilted his head a bit confused. "Well…yeah. I mean, I didn't want you to fall and get hurt."_

_The girl gasped again before and started shaking a bit. She lowered her gaze onto her hands which were wringing the bottom of her long uniform skirt. "You didn't…didn't want me to get hurt?"_

_Naruto was beginning to think that the girl was weird before he remembered seeing those bruises on her neck. He suddenly understood, that like him, this girl must not have been treated very well. Not very well at all. And the way she was shaking, the nervousness of her hands…he had seen it all in himself before. She was scared. She was scared, and alone, and she probably didn't think that anyone even understood what she was going through. _

_But Naruto knew what she was going through. He knew, and he knew what she needed more than anything else in the world at that moment, the thing that his sister always did when he was scared to make him feel better. So without another word Naruto shuffled over and gave the girl a hug._

_She was stiff, unused to this kind of contact and wss first afraid that this was some new kind of way to hurt someone. But then a warmth started to come over her, and she welcomed the hug before crashing her whole body into Naruto's desperate for more contact. She had never felt something so good before, and even though it freaked Naruto out a bit he didn't let go until she pulled away. A huge smile now on her face._

"_Heh, glad to see you're finally smiling." Naruto said happily. "And you probably don't wanna talk, but I just wanna let you know that I get hurt too. And that you're not alone, cause now you've got me, and no matter what I'll be there whenever you need a hug or something since that always makes me feel better. Oh! My name's Naruto by the way, Uzumaki Naruto." He finished with a wide smile and waited for the girl to introduce herself._

_She seemed hesitant at first, very shy and unsure of herself. But then she stood up and bowed. "H-hi Uzumaki-kun. I'm Hana, Yukari Hana." She rose back up and smiled sweetly at him and so a brilliant friendship was created._

_But…wait. The dream was still going. Repressed memories resurfacing about that day and what happened immediately after she introduced herself. Memories that Naruto had long ago consciously forgotten, so as to save his friendship and sanity._

_A blush began to cover Hana face as she clasped her hands together and placed them infront of her, waiting patiently for Naruto to stand up too. Once he was up he blinked a bit at the look of happiness on her face and it was then that he first noticed the bags under her big, now sparkling eyes._

"_How…how many children would you like to have?" She asked him, lost in bliss. Naruto only stared at her, although a small tingle went down his spine as she took in a deep breath._

"_I want to have three children, two girls and one boy. Uzumaki-kun, you can name them because I don't have a good naming sense. Ehehe, who do you think they will look more like? They are our children so they'll definitely be cute right? Then we will live in a white house with a garden and keep a big doggy. At least let me decide on the doggy's name. Uzumaki-kun do you like cats or dogs? I like dogs but if you insist we can keep a cat instead. I love dogs but if it's an animal I'll love it regardless. But after all I love Uzumaki-kun the best. I hope Uzumaki-kun loves me the best too."_

"_Oh, what kind of food do you like? Why did I ask that Question? Oh, come one Uzumaki-kun, it's 'cause I will be the one cooking your lunch for you starting tomorrow morning, right? Speaking of which starting from tomorrow ('till death) everything you eat will be cooked by me, so I must know your taste. Being picky isn't good but I want you to be happy so I want to cook for you all your favorite foods from the beginning. You don't need to be appreciative because it's obvious for a girl to cook for her boyfriend. But promise me one thing. I've always wanted to try saying "Aaah" while feeding someone, so during tomorrows lunch let me say "Aaah" okay? Please don't be shy and run away okay? If you do so I will feel depressed, seriously. I might end up killing Uzumaki-kun. Just kidding."_

"_And Uzumaki-kun, please don't get mad. I've fallen for a boy at school. No, of course I'm not going to cheat on you 'cause there is no other boy I could love like Uzumaki-kun. I just want to tell you that before you guys meet each other, so that you know there was nothing between us. Now that I think about it, that guy was a jerk. I haven't talked with him and I really feel glad that I didn't. But I thought I should talk about this from the beginning in order to prevent any misunderstandings, right? Misunderstandings are very sorrowful, right? Two people might love each other but if they have misunderstandings and then quarrel and then part ways then it'd be lust like a books drama, and book dramas are already heartbreaking enough, right? Uzumaki-kun and I can definitely make up afterward, right? Ah, then…"_

"_Till now have you loved any other girl? There's no other way you could love other girls, right? But there must have been at least one girl you were interested in, right? Don't worry I won't blame you for that. Actually I won't really like it but I will endure it because that was from before we met each other, right? Now that Uzumaki-kun has met me, for you other girls are obviously just akin to rocks, right? I feel sorry for them that I'm taking Uzumaki-kun for myself but there is no choice love is like that. It's destiny that Uzumaki-kun chose me over them. I must become happy in there stead as well. But once in a while, you can go play with them because I'll be sorry if I'm to only one who is happy. You think so too, don't you?"_

_Naruto stared at Hana for a few moments, extremely weirded out by the girl. His mind was blank, he couldn't fathom the depth of everything he had just been told. Or rather he just didn't know how to react to such a thing. Finally six words left his mouth that basically saved him. "Aren't we too young for that?"_

_Hana stared at Naruto, her smile and blush still consuming her face. She didn't seem to have reacted physically to the question at all. "Really? Oh. Well since I love Uzumaki-kun so much and I'm sure Uzumaki-kun loves me as much too then I can wait until Uzumaki-kun decides to propose to me. You will propose to me Uzumaki-kun, right? After all Uzumaki-kun was born to love me and take me away from all the pain and knives and shouting and—well Uzumaki-kun doesn't want to hear about that. Besides we can always spend time together and do fun things 'cause Uzumaki-kun is kind like that. But you promised to propose Uzumaki-kun so don't forget, but you won't forget, right?"_

_Naruto couldn't do anything but gulp and nod for a while but he was eventually able to talk again. "…Yeah. That's right."_

_After a little while, Hana realized that she had to hurry home or her mom would start to get scary, so she practically begged Naruto to walk her home. As they walked, Naruto began to notice how the streets looked familiar and started to get worried. Then when they reached her home Naruto's eyes widened. They lived in the same apartment complex. After some rushed goodbyes all Naruto could do was walk into his home, plop onto his bed, and try to forget the crazy girl. He was only half successful. He felt a need to do good for her, so his mind only repressed the memories of her crazy acts, leaving in place Naruto's rescue of the girl and his promise to be there for her. The rest, as they say is history. Still, his presumed promise to propose to her never came up again, and with a girl that crazy it definitely would, wouldn't it? Plus she had mellowed out a lot since they started their friendship. She wasn't that girl anymore…right?_

* * *

><p>Tenten slumped into her apartment, walked into her room, and crashed onto her bed completely exhausted.<p>

*Flashback*

After her run in with Sakura she had rushed home to put away her groceries before rushing right back out towards the hospital. Once she was there she was—of course—denied entrance because visiting hours were over. Still, two of her friends were in that hospital, and she would be damned before she made every effort she could to see them. Besides she was a ninja, how hard would sneaking into a hospital be?

Tenten got her answer after three intense hours of trying to sneak in, getting caught, fighting off forceful ejection from the premises, then starting the cycle again. It was a hospital that catered specifically to ninja, and they had to have some intense security incase whatever or whoever put them in there decided they wanted to finish the job.

So, physically and mentally exhausted, Tenten somehow found herself lucky enough to sneak into the correct hallway that Naruto and Neji's room was in. However, she soon discovered that she wasn't alone in the hallway.

"-Saw some real potential there today, plus the kid needs an attitude adjustment. He's too dark right now for what I have planned." Tenten heard a man's voice say. She couldn't quite place it but its owner sounded familiar.

She then heard a woman's sigh and a shuffling that could have been her leaning against a door or wall. Then Tenten gasped as she recognized the voice of her idol. "I know, your right Jiraiya, but I still don't exactly like your idea much. Naruto's been hurt so badly that—"

"Oh I know that, but you can't treat him like a helpless baby. Besides this most recent case of him in the hospital was just a simple fight over a girl. Or at least a misunderstanding involving aforementioned girl." Tenten raised an eyebrow and scooted closer to the voices to try and listen in more.

"What do you mean? The Hyuga likes the blondie Naruto was with?" Tsunade asked.

"No, no. Naruto—it think—likes the blond and—one again I think—she likes him too, but, and here's the best part, Naruto was with this other girl named—"

"Tenten, yes I know. I met her yesterday and have been hearing all the rumors about the two. I think it's really sweet." Tsunade said with a smile and proud look in her eyes.

"Rumors shmumers, I know what I saw. No heard, but saw." Jiraiya emphasized.

Tenten blinked in surprise. There were rumors about her and Naruto? Just…great. Now neji would never—

"The Hyuga was so totally jealous anyways. He stormed up to Naruto and started ranting about how Naruto was using that Tenten girl and that he was there to make him pay. It was all pretty good actually, I even took so notes. Wanna see?"

Immediately after Jiraiya let out a yelp of pain and Tsunade growled in annoyance. "Please don't tell me that you're planning on using them to get good material for those perverted books of yours."

"Of course not!" Jiraiya exclaimed trying his best to look insulted. It wasn't very convincing. "Though if that happens to be an amusing side effect who am I to deny potential readers an interesting story?"

Tsunade's growling became much more audible and Jiraiya seemed to start whimpering is terror. Tenten's curiosity got the better of her and she scooted even more down the hall. As soon as she moved however Tsunade and Jiraiya stopped making noise. Tenten waited in a tense silence for about twenty seconds, fearing that she had been caught only to suppress a sigh of relief when Tsunade started talking again.

"Alright, I guess I can see how this could help Naruto, but why do it now? Why can't we just wait for—"

"No, it has to be now, while everything is still raw and fresh. If we wait too long there's no telling what could happen to them."

"Fine, have it your way, like always. Don't even think about how I or anyone else will feel about this. I guess all that really does matter to you…the only thing that's ever really mattered to you is finding that damn kid."

There was a tense moment of silence before Jiraiya spoke up again. "Hime you know that's not—"

"Now is _not_ the time for this. I'll get the paperwork all drawn up and make the announcement tomorrow. Be there for that. Good night Jiraiya."

As the sound of footsteps began to get closer Tenten rushed away as sneakily as possible, not exactly sure what to think of all this.

*Flashback end*

'What should I do~? There's so much I can do with that information, I just need to think what.'

Tenten rolled over in her bed to stare at the ceiling. There seemed to rumors going around about her and Naruto. Tenten scowled a bit, those rumors must have started after that brief run in with Hinata. There _were_ a lot of people around them at that time; she was actually surprised that she didn't expect rumors to pop up. They did however provide her with a unique bit of information.

Neji was jealous of Naruto for "being" with her. She couldn't believe that all it took to get Neji's attention was to seem like she was dating another boy. Tenten nearly squealed in joy but sat up in her bed instead, pondering how best to go about this.

'Neji's recent behavior towards Naruto all stems from him not wanting to date me. He doesn't want Naruto to date me because he secretly likes me, he just won't admit it. So I need to put him in a tougher position to get Neji to finally spill his guts. After all, if he was trying to cook lunch for me after one day, imagine what he would do if I were "dating" Naruto for a week!' Tenten's fist pumped into the air halfheartedly as she thought of something.

'Date Naruto…I'm not dating Naruto. I can't believe I overlooked that…but Neji will only…if I maybe…dammit! I don't want to do that! I can't do that to Naruto, that would make me such a heartless bitch. And Naruto doesn't deserve something like that.' Tenten flopped back down onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow.

'Besides, I don't even know if Naruto is going to be here for much longer. From the sound of it, Jiraiya of the Sannin had something planned for him, and that probably meant some kind of intense, far away training or something. And we just became friends too…well all I can do is wish the best for him.'

Tenten smiled to herself, glad to have taken the high road and not use Naruto like some tool to get Neji. As she drifted off to sleep though, she couldn't help but wonder…just what would it be like if she were to date Naruto?

* * *

><p>Ayame was a bit disheartened. That was the best way to describe her feelings at the moment. After the dinner rush was over and Naruto still hadn't shown up, Ayame begged her dad to let her have the rest of the night off. Teuchi agreed, not realizing that his daughter had other motives than just not having to work. Once she was done packing up a delivery bag full of her special love potion ramen she hustled over to Naruto's home, hoping to surprise him. It was still relatively early, it only being nine at night, so he wouldn't have a problem eating this late. Not that he would have a problem eating ramen at all, but Ayame didn't want to cause any problems with night time trips to the restroom. She really did care that much.<p>

She arrived maybe ten minutes after leaving work, and stayed there. For two hours. It looked like Naruto wasn't coming home anytime soon, and her love potion ramen was now dreadfully cold, the noodles no doubt soggy and crumbling. She felt like crying, she really did. After all this time, after finally telling herself to make a move, it felt like nothing was going right for her.

Her father was going to close up the shop soon, and if he went home and didn't find her there then she would be in a **LOT** of trouble. So she decided to start heading back home, and just as she was standing up the door at the end of the hallway opened up and someone came toward her, causing her to gasp.

"Hello? What are you doing here this late?" A very feminine voice asked Ayame. Unfortunately Ayame's voice was caught in her throat, so the woman just continued talking. "Hmm, brown hair, nice big eyes, maybe a little older, has ramen and is wearing that uniform. You must be Ayame Ichiraku."

The fact that the woman had a check list that determined her identity didn't register with Ayame. All that she could focus on right now was the brilliant sunny blond hair so like his, her blue eyes, and those whisker marks on her cheeks. "You-you-you…who are you? How do you know me? You can't be Naruto-kun, he would have greeted me then barraged me with questions about the ramen."

The older woman smiled and patted Ayame's head, peering to her side to look at the dark windows. "I'm guessing he's not home huh? And here you came and with his favorite food too. It's a shame, but this means he's probably in the hospital. But what are you doing here Ayame-chan? Shouldn't you be home? It's kinda late after all."

Ayame gripped the bag in front of her tighter and looked down, a red tint barely noticeable on her cheeks. "W-well, Naruto-kun didn't come in for lunch today. And I know he was here in the village because he usually tells me that he'll be leaving and because I've heard the…rumors about him. Then when he didn't come in for dinner either I figured that maybe he was just tired at home, so I came over with some ramen that he might like and…he isn't here."

The woman nodded her head in understanding. She looked Ayame over a bit and smiled. Naruto talked about Ayame a lot, after all she was his first…everything really. She had heard all the stories, heard of all their adventures, and all the things that the two had done with each other (her favorite was when Naruto and Ayame had ditched school (something she scolded Naruto for hours about) and went to the small park on top of the Hokage monument. The two had seen a couple kiss up there, and not seeing why not they decided to share a kiss too. They were only eight and nine, but she always gushed at the story) and she had secretly always wanted Ayame and Naruto to get together. Ayame was perfect in her eyes. She was a humble civilian and Naruto's friend. She was smart, had a good work ethic, was always there for him with a listening ear or ready advice, she could cook Naruto's favorite food, and she was a proud little firecracker when she needed to be.

Nodding to herself, Naru made a decision. From this point forward, she would give it her all to help Ayame win Naruto's heart. Those rumors she was hearing about that Tenten girl just wouldn't do at all, and she would be damned if that Hyuga girl got her evil hands on her precious little brother. She was done hiding in the shadows and out of sight from the village just because Naruto was afraid she'd get hurt if people knew about her. She wanted to proudly proclaim herself Naruto's older sister with her words, not just her actions. (Her decision to tattoo whisker marks on her cheeks tended to be ignored by a great deal of the public for some reason. As if they were in denial about something)

So she leaned down a bit and looked Ayame right in the eyes. "Well Ayame, since he's not here, that means he's probably in the hospital. So I'm sorry about you spending so much time waiting for him. As for whom I am, my name is Naru and Naruto is my Otouto. Not by blood." She quickly said as Ayame opened her mouth to interrupt. "But despite that I love him as if he were my real brother. I've even tattooed these things onto my cheeks so we could be accepted as brother and sister more easily. And I know he hasn't mentioned me before, but that's because he was scared that if too many people found out about me…well let me just say that some people would very likely try to keep us apart."

Naru looked down at that statement and a frown passed over her face before she looked up again a brilliant smile there now. "Listen, I know you're in love with my dense little bother. You don't need to hide it, ha ha. And don't be embarrassed, he doesn't know a thing though it's not like I haven't dropped enough hints or anything. Listen, the point is, I know how Naruto thinks, acts, and who he listens to. I'm the foremost expert on all things Naruto. And I want to help you get him."

Ayame just stared at this strange woman who was claiming to be Naruto's adoptive older sister and was offering her help on how to get Naruto to fall in love with her. A part of her couldn't believe it, and tried to convince her that this was a trick. But then, another part of her believed the woman's words. And she began to think of all the things she could accomplish if Naruto's _older sister_ was backing her personally.

Ayame could imagine a lot. And she smiled at the woman. "Well what are we waiting for then Nee-chan?"

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the show! I really hope you all liked the chapter, I worked really hard on it! And now that I'm out of college I can spend more time writing this out! (unless i get a summer job. And I really need to get a summer job. Or maybe summer classes would be better?) But the point! I'm going to try and writ more frequently. Anyways, I'm sure all of you have some questions about the new girl Hana and Naruto's sister Naru. All will be explained eventually in the story. BUT. If anyone can tell me where I got Hana's rant from (preferably through a PM since I dont want to seem like I'm asking for reviews) I will be so happy that the first two people that get it right will be able to become characters in the story! (I actually planned for something like this to happen later on in the story with two of the people I beta'd for but they both decided they wanted to focus on their writing.) So if you want just PM me your guess and a small bio. I'll be happy to include you (but it wont be until chapter 12) If you review with your guess it will be ignored. But please review to tell me what you thinkof the chapter, I put a lot into it. Again I hope you all had a great read and enjoy your summer! Suna OUT!<strong>


End file.
